A Perfect Mate
by Kudara
Summary: Seven crash lands on a planetoid and finds her perfect mate among the Rana.  Non-human (ie not homo sapiens but humanoid) pairing warning.
1. Chapters 1 to 5

**A Perfect Mate – Chapters 1-5**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.

Warning: Contains f/f ?… f/m?... situations between… err consider yourself generally warned of sexual content.

Rating: M (Mature teens and older)

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 1/24/05

Notes: Experimental work: development of culture for non humanoid race; androgynous character. Sources for Rana behavior would include lion prides, wolf packs, and the behaviors of chimpanzee and gorilla groups.

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Chapter 1

The day was perfect as far as I was concerned. A light breeze teasingly ruffled my striped tan and chestnut fur, playing with each strand of hair while the afternoon sun warmed me. The droning of insects was a constant undertone in my ears as they twitched listening to the sounds around me. From my left came a rasping sound I knew was Blackfur hollowing out an antler she was planning on using as a knife handle while the rest of us napped.

I inhaled the warm smell of the earth and the citrus spicy scent of the other members of my rann. Beyond these was the aroma of the grassland, the scent of the green stalked kaltan grass heavy with seed that was sweet when eaten. Faintly upon the breeze I also caught a hint of fleet footed samara. I opened my eyes and sat up and sniffed the breeze curiously at the musky odor, then licked my teeth and looked around at the others of my rann.

Scarface the rann alpha was sitting up as well and from the way she was sniffing the breeze and her ears were both facing toward the grasslands, she smelled the samara as well. Softfur, her mate, was lying exhausted in the shaded cavern opening of the rann's den, my three youngest sisters Treeclimber, Leap and Watcher lying around and upon her, their feet and hands moving in their sleeping thoughts and muted rumbling sounds coming from them.

I grinned in amusement at this and noticed Swiftfoot and Blackfur sniffing the breeze as well, their ears flicking forward and back between the grasslands and where Scarface was laying. I once again glanced over at Scarface wondering if we would investigate or whether she would judge that it was too warm for what would probably be a difficult hunt to bring down one of the long legged grass eaters.

Scarface groaned slightly as she lifted herself to all fours and stretched, then stood on her hind legs and gazed out over the grasslands, undoubtedly searching to see if she could sight what she smelled. She was a large alpha, almost seven feet tall when she stood upright, and her fur was mostly light brown in color but tipped with a lighter color over her chest and in stripes over her face and back. I was the third tallest in the rann after Scarface and Blackfur, and only a half a hand shorter than Blackfur.

Scarface gazed intently out onto the grasslands a moment longer and then dropped down to rest upon the callused joints of her long fingered hands. We used our hands to grasp and manipulate objects, and to modify the meaning of the sounds we made to communicate with each other. When standing on all fours we curled them up so the hardened calluses of the knuckle and first joint protected them from the ground.

Her scarred face turned toward me and I met her gaze for a moment before lowering mine for a brief second in respect. When I next raised it I awaited a sign on whether or not we would seek out the samara. Scarface picked up her knife in its sheath from where she had laid it aside while sleeping and tied it by its cord about her waist. Scarface then ambled over to the rann's small stack of leather goods and pulled out a long cord we used for various tasks and wrapped it about her body. Seeing Scarface do this I was quick to don my own knife and out of the corner of my eye I saw Blackfur and Swiftfoot doing the same, for Scarface's action was a clear sign we would be hunting.

Scarface glanced at her mate and newest young, I could tell how happy she was by how her short high set ears pricked forward as she watched them and how her mouth eased into an upturned grin as she panted lightly in the heat. As Scarface watched Softfur woke and glanced around at us curious to why we were all awake this early in the day. Scarface sniffed the air in answer and Softfur did so as well, catching the odor that interested us. Looking at her mate she cocked her head to the side in inquiry but Scarface glanced at her children and Softfur sighed in disappointment, at only two years old they were much too young for her to leave them alone to go hunting with us.

Watching them I was envious of the closeness they shared, how their mate bond allowed them to sense each other's thoughts. I distinctly remembered the child-parent bond I had with them for several years until it dimmed as I got older. I knew I would never forget the love and acceptance I had felt from them during that time. The experience of that first bond with one's parents cemented the familial bonds of the rann, which in turn served as the basis of Rana culture.

Scarface trotted over to Softfur and affectionately licked her muzzle and the top of her head before glancing at the three of us. Swiftfoot, Blackfur and I got up from where we were sitting down and waited for Scarface's signal. After a few more moments with her mate Scarface sounded a hunting cough and moved toward the enticing scent coming from the grasslands and we trotted to fall in behind her as she left the bare earth in front of the den entrance.

As we went past Softfur we all paused a moment to brush muzzles with her in a sign of affection. As I looked my newest sisters I wondered briefly if I would ever have any young of my own. In order to do so I would have to leave my parents and sisters and strike out on my own, seeking other non-clan rann and hoping to meet the one unmated Rana with whom I could share the same type of bond that Scarface and Softfur did. One's clan was a wider group of related rann, I would be clan with any of my sisters rann, and my parent's sisters rann, and my parent's parents rann.

The difficulty among the Rana of finding one's mate discouraged many Rana from even trying and kept our numbers low. The Rana were not like the other animals that came as either male or female. We had the ability to be both, though our male organs were normally not fully developed. When Rana decided to mate one of the pair, usually the most able hunter would develop their male organs and could then impregnate the other. Before that occurred though the newly mated pair would choose their own den and territory and formally leave their parent's rann to form their own. Though one always in a sense, remained part of their parent's rann.

We followed the scent of the samara out onto the grasslands; the wind had carried it a long way and it was while before we caught sight of the fleet footed samaras. They stood nearly as tall as we when upright and their hooves and horns were sharp. A lucky strike from a hoof of one of these had given Scarface her distinctive look. We would need a combination of stealth, cunning and luck to manage to get close enough to bring down one of the small herd.

Staying carefully upwind we examined the herd closely. It was not long before our noses caught the scent of blood on one of the animals. Now was the breeding season of the samara, the time for the males to show themselves as fit mates for the females and one of the male samara had come out of such a contest badly injured.

This male will likely be our prey I thought and looked at Scarface for confirmation. She was examining the male I had noticed as well, watching the way the samara moved. With satisfaction I noted what Scarface had seen, that the samara was limping badly, perhaps this would not be as much of a chase as usual. Glancing at me Scarface directed her gaze at a point to the side and slightly beyond the herd of samara. I knew I was expected to make my way to that spot without the samara detecting me by sight, sound or scent. Not an easy task given that their senses were as sensitive as our own, the only reason they had not yet scented us was that we were downwind of them.

I noticed Scarface directing Blackfur to the other side of the herd; we would be bracketing them then. Undoubtedly Swiftfoot and Scarface would creep as close to the samara as possible then rush them, depending on the way they broke hopefully Blackfur or I would be in position to attempt to bring down the wounded one.

I crept slowly and carefully around the side of the herd to my appointed place, pausing frequently and paying attention to any shift in the wind which might carry my scent to them. Finally I was in position; I crouched and silently pulled my knife from its sheath then waited patiently knowing that Scarface and Swiftfoot would not advance upon the herd until Blackfur and I were in position. When the samara started breaking off from feeding and began looking around nervously I knew Scarface and Swiftfoot must be close. Keeping an eye on the injured deer I waited patiently.

When they broke and ran I was pleased to see the injured deer coming directly toward me. Making a quick decision I remained crouching and waited to see if it would get close enough for me to attack without giving chase. The samara kept running toward me, not noticing me as I crouched in the high grass. By the time it finally did see me, it was almost on top of me and its panicked stop only made it easier for me to spring from my crouch and leap atop it's back.

Once there I gripped the samara desperately with one hand while stabbing its neck with my knife repeatedly. Then my knife hand was suddenly wet making it difficult for me to grip and I knew I had hit my mark. Suddenly the samara stumbled and I was barely able to jump from its back before it fell. It thrashed violently for a few seconds and then stilled just as the rest of the rann approached.

As Scarface came up to the dead samara I moved away from it, as alpha it was her place to make the first cut. It was a custom that harkened back to when we did not cook our food and the alpha of the rann ate first at a kill. Scarface undid the ties that held her knife in its hide sheath and carefully skinned the side of the animal before making a long cut down its flank where we would begin stripping the meat from the carcass.

Once she was done we finished skinning the animal, laying the skin to the side we began cutting the meat off in strips following the initial cut by Scarface and laid them carefully upon the skin. Once we were finished taking as much meat as we needed Scarface cut small holes along one side of the hide and tied the cord to it and looped it across one shoulder. She would carefully drag the hide with the meat upon it back to the den; the rest of the carcass would be left for the scavengers to feed upon. We were almost ready to head back when my ears detected a sound I had never heard before; it was a piercing, shrieking sound that rapidly got closer and louder.

Suddenly a large object approached us from the sky coming straight toward us and causing all of us to flatten to the ground in fear of it. As it passed over us I was one of the first to stand then go upright to see it slam from the sky into the earth. Curious I started toward the object only to have Scarface come up beside me and give me a reproving look for not waiting for her direction. Abashed I fell back and let her take the lead, as I did so I noticed she had given Blackfur the task of pulling the hide with its meat burden for now.

As we got closer to the strange object we crouched down and approached it carefully, uncertain whether or not it was dangerous. It did not smell or look, like anything living; instead it had the appearance of the metal we used to make the blades of our knives. We crouched for several minutes examining the thing and then Scarface stood and apparently deciding it presented no danger, approached more closely.

The object was longer than it was tall or wide, and had streaks of black, orange and reddish orange along its sides. It had odd protrusions sticking out along its length that had gouged out long furrows in the earth where it had slid and as we got closer we could detect faint sounds coming from inside it. Curious I leaned closer trying to make out what I was hearing but Scarface indicated silently that we should move further away and back into the grasslands. Once there we crouched down and watched it intently.

When one end of the object began to move we all flattened ourselves and became as still as possible. As it opened outward and we could see that the object was hollow inside. A short upright-standing animal was revealed as the end of the object finished opening and finally lay flat upon the ground.

The history we learned when young told of how a single non-Rana female had turned the Rana into what they were today, giving us an understanding of the world we had not had before. She had taught us how to communicate with each other, how to cook and dry meat, how to make tools like knives and how to make leather from the skin of the samara. No Rana knew what happened to her, for after we learned her teachings she disappeared, and had not been seen in the five generations since.

Looking at the strange animal I wondered if it were one of her race and if so had it come to see what had become of us. The animal was curious looking, what appeared to be its head was covered with a small patch of brown fur and its face which was flat with no muzzle, was furless. The remainder of its body was covered with something which was not fur, whatever it was; it was black in color except the shoulders where it was blue. In each hand it held something, one was round and long shaped the other was rectangular and was making noises as the animal moved it about in front of its body.

The object made several noises as the animal held it in our direction, and you could see the animal stiffen as it peered at where we were crouched hiding. With interest I noted that the animal was more like the Rana than the samara, it seemed to be much smarter than any animals that I knew and the objects in its hands appeared to be tools of some type. Scarface seeing that the strange animal had spotted us slowly stood upright. Swiftfoot, Blackfur and I followed her lead.

Upon seeing us rise the animal crouched down and raised the hand with the other object in it, the one that was long in shape. Scarface rumbled curiously at the animal and approached it slowly. The animal did not appear to be much of a threat to us, and it was not acting like prey. It seemed rather afraid of us, and it made a startled sound as we approached.

Suddenly an orange light appeared from the hand holding the tube and struck Scarface who stumbled and fell. The unprovoked attack caused Blackfur and Swiftfoot to rush the animal. It attempted to attack them with the orange light, but it missed. It then turned and looked like it would try to run back into the large object but it's foot caught in the grass and it fell backward, it's head struck the part of the object that had lowered to the ground and it lay still.

I had paused near Scarface long enough to realize that she was still breathing and was unconscious but I could smell no blood on her. I rumbled at the two of them to indicate they should leave the animal and come to me. They returned and nuzzled curiously at Scarface who was already showing signs of returning awareness. I could see they were reassured that she was not dead and I looked at the animal curious as to why it had attacked, it was unfortunate for it that it had.

With Scarface unable to deter me, my natural curiosity won out and I went to sniff at the still animal and quickly realized that it was not breathing, nor was its heart beating. Apparently when it fell and struck its head it had died. I turned and signed this to Blackfur and Swiftfoot who lowered their ears in dismay; it had not been their intention to cause the animals death, even if it had attacked first.

I then carefully ventured into the interior of the object staring curiously at the brightness of it and all the different colored areas on its inside surface. Small things were scattered about on the floor and I paused at each to sniff curiously. The scent of blood in front of me drew me onward and I found another of the animals wounded and unconscious deep inside the object.

Where the other animal had dark fur this one had fur the color of a dried kaltan seed pod and smelled different. There was something about the smell of this animal that drew me strongly, something about the scent that seemed to stir a memory within my mind. Without thinking I found myself cleaning the wound along its face. There was a curious ridge of hardened material around one of its eyes that was not bone, but smelled like the object we were inside of. I noticed a smaller area of the material along the opposite side of its face near its ear.

When Scarface ventured inside seeking me I stood between her and the strange animal and rumbled a warning, asking her to stop and not approach any closer. Scarface stopped surprise evident in every line of her body. I did not lower my gaze from her; I knew it was time for me to form my own rann. Though I was not certain why and what my decision had to do with the animal I had found. She sniffed the air and caught the scent of the strange animal mingling with my own scent, for when I had cleaned the animal I had marked it with the scent glands along the sides of my muzzle as well.

Scarface rumbled at me questioningly.

I was confused about my own actions and my uncertain growl whine in reply was more plaintive than I had intended as a result.

Scarface glanced at the injured animal and at me and moved as if to approach it.

This I was certain about and I stiffened and growl rumbled a warning to her, she was my parent but I would protect this animal, even from her.

Scarface merely looked at me appraisingly then made the hand sign for mate along with a questioning rumble.

I hesitated for a long moment then made another uncertain growl whine. Blackfur and Swiftfoot had come into the object by this time as well and were watching the interaction between Scarface and me with interest as well as sniffing curiously about them.

Scarface watched me for a few moments longer then finally rumbled an acknowledgement and dipped her muzzle accepting that I was seeking to form my own rann. I relaxed and trotted over to exchange scents with them by rubbing our muzzles along each other.

Finally after a few more moments they left me alone but not before Scarface let me know that she would be returning to check on me later. How much later she did not tell me and I could tell she was wondering what my inquisitive impulsiveness had gotten me into now.

Hearing scavengers outside I went and using my hands dragged the dead animal's body away from the metal object and scrubbed the blood on the flat part off with some grasses which I disposed with the body. I did not want the scavengers coming too close to it and perhaps discovering the injured animal inside. When this was finished I went back to check on it. I was not sure whether it was a male or female though I was beginning to suspect it was a female and the dead one was a male from the way they smelled and looked. The unconscious animal had prominent breasts, the dead one did not. In all the animals I had seen with distinct male and females, only the females had breasts.

I hoped we had not caused her mate's death though I did not think so since I did not detect her scent upon the dead one nor it's upon her beyond what one would expect from them being in the same area. Rann mates then but not breeding mates I decided. I sniffed her all over searching for other injuries but could find none, however I discovered more of the hard material on one of her front hands. I did not understand why the female had it but the male did not, perhaps it was unique to the females of her kind.

Finally I decided to move her from the object she was sitting upon to the floor. There were two of these objects where she was and she was resting upon one of them. They moved in a circle so it was easy for me to use my front hands to grasp her and gently lay her upon the floor. Searching around inside the object for bedding material I discovered thin shiny flat objects that while not very cushioning, were the only things I could find that would work for bedding.

I laid her down upon them and pulled one of the others up around her as night had fallen and it was getting colder and then lay down in front of her between her and the opening. When one of the scavengers would approach I would rumble out a no nonsense warning. I would attack if they approached too closely. When the female curled up close to me I rumbled at her affectionately. I was not certain why I felt protective and affectionate toward her but I did, if she were a Rana I would think my feelings meant that she was the one who was my mate, as Scarface had asked if she was, but she was not a Rana and I was confused as to why I felt what I did for this strange creature. Eventually ears alert for any sign of danger I feel asleep with her curled up against my back.

Chapter 2

When I awoke the next morning I began cleaning her face once again noting with relief that the wound showed no signs of heat within it and was healing. Swiftfoot had almost died of such a wound when it got red and hot, and only Scarface's skill with herbs had saved her life.

As I groomed her she showed signs of awareness but did not wake up, she only made protesting noises like a rebellious cub when I cleaned her ears and more contented noises when I cleaned the fur on her head and the skin of her neck. Her head fur was longer than I had thought, as it had been tangled up somehow yesterday, now I worked to untangled it and when I finished grooming her it hung down around her face.

Later in the morning she woke though it was clear she was not entirely aware of her surroundings. She stared at me lying next to her in confusion and fear and froze when I rumbled gently at her and nuzzled her face affectionately. When I drew back she stared at me for a long moment and relaxed slightly. Then she started making noises at me and I understood that she was asking me something from the questioning inflection but I could not understand the meaning of her sounds, they were not like the sounds Rana made. She quit when it became apparent that I did not understand what they meant, looking rather frustrated.

Finally she stirred and crawled along the floor toward the small objects that were scattered about and grabbed two of them and rested against the inside of the object as she tore them open and began eating what was inside one of them and taking what appeared to be drinks from the other object. Curious I came over and watched, she looked at me then picked up two more objects and tore at them and held them out to me. I took them from her and churred at her with pleasure understanding that she was offering me food and drink.

Tasting the food she had given me I found that it was nut like in flavor and consistency. I understood how to eat but it took me some time to figure out how to drink from the other object. I finally figured out that she was sucking on a stalk like hollow thing sticking out from its side. Duplicating her actions I found that I could draw water from it. Rumbling at her and hoping she would understand to stay inside the object I went outside and began marking the area around it. No sane scavenger or hunter would approach such a marked area as it indicated a Rana den. When I returned she had crawled to the opening and was watching my actions intently but had not ventured outside.

When I came back inside she pulled herself up and touched one of the areas with colorful squares beside the door. To my surprise and concern the wall that the male had lowered began to rise again. The female made calming noises to me when I rose agitated and I restrained my impulse to run outside before I was shut inside the object. When there was only a small gap left she tapped the same area again and the wall stopped moving. I was barely able to catch her as she tried to lower herself to the floor only to have her rear legs give way. With one arm wrapped about her, I helped her move back over to the nest I had made for us where she curled up and fell asleep once again.

With the opening in the object mostly sealed I felt less of a need to protect her so I curled up behind her where I could see the opening and was pleased to note that she instinctively moved closer to me. Once her back was resting against my chest she quit moving and fell into a deeper sleep. I placed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer and then placed my chin on the top of her head and fell asleep as well.

While I slept I dreamed and she was in the dream with me. In the dream the noises she had made translated themselves into concepts in my mind. I got a strong sense of curiosity from her about myself so I formed images of myself as a cub wandering and investigating everything and then the sign for my name Seeker. In return she gave me the image of seven items and a sound that meant the number for her name. I was puzzled by this but repeated the number back to her along with her image and received a feeling of affirmation from her.

Next there was the sense of her thinking about what we were doing now and a questioning confusion. I was as confused as she, about why we would be able to speak to one another in this manner we were not mates and not parent and child. There was quiet from her as she absorbed this information and the fact that such ways of communication were at least not unknown to my race.

After a few moments I sensed that she was curious about what I was and so I formed images in my mind of my parent's rann and of how we lived. How the rann was composed of two mated Rana and their children. Then I showed her some of my daily tasks such as hunting, gathering kaltan seed and mura roots for food, drying or cooking meat and curing skins for various uses.

Seven was curious about my the familial bond within the rann so I showed her how we groomed each other each morning to mingle our scents into one scent that was the entire rann's. How we greeted and rubbed against each other throughout the day to show our affection for one another. I remembered the bond I had with my parents when I was younger and felt a sharp pang of envy from her at my strong memories of their love for me.

Sensing that she was curious about the bits of Rana sounds and symbols she had seen from my memories I showed her how the Rana made themselves understood by other Rana. The complex meanings we were able conveyed with body posture and sound seemed to amaze her. When I started explaining the hand signs for more advanced concepts I realized she was surprised that Rana communication was so complex. I got the sense from her that we were much more intelligent than she had initially thought after I finished

Seven's curiosity about me sated she formed an inquisitive image of the male that had attacked us. In response I formed images in my mind of my rann investigating the strange object that had fallen from the sky, of the object opening and the male coming out of it. Then I showed her images of the male attacking Scarface and what followed.

I felt a sense of regret from Seven as I finished and she understood what had happened. I let her know that I was concerned she would be angry at me for my rann's involvement in the death of the male but she indicated to me that she was not. She was not certain that she would not have acted the same manner if she had been the one conscious she admitted, we appeared to be a formidable race and it was understandable why he had been scared of us, but also understandable why my sisters had thought he had killed Scarface.

In Seven's mind was an image of myself on all four legs with my front hands curled, the details that seemed to stand out in her mind were how powerfully built I was, with muscular back, chest and limbs. Longish chestnut striped tan fur covered my entire body. Short wide upright ears were placed on a broad muzzled head; the bright topaz slitted eyes were the only thing that she saw as showing that I was intelligent.

Once I was certain she was not angry at me for the death of the male, I sent back a sense of curiosity about whom and what she was.

There was a long pause then confusing images poured through my mind of Seven's life. The images were confusing but Seven was able to explain about what she called 'the Borg', and what they had done to her.

She also showed me how she came to her new home, the 'ship' called Voyager. Seven showed me how the Alpha female of the ship had been damaged, and how when the male that took over, he wanted Seven and the Borg to leave the Voyager rann? I wasn't certain rann was correct as the loose group she showed me looked more like a clan to me.

I thought at first that Seven meant that he had tried to chase them off and she affirmed that he had, but when they tried to do something to Voyager he killed the other Borg except for Seven. I was stunned, Rana did not kill other Rana, we usually did not fight at all and it was a matter of shame to draw blood during a fight. Even when my sisters' had thought the male had killed Scarface they had not attempted to kill it.

I got the sense from Seven after I got over the shock of the idea that the Rana were unusual, most races were much more violent than we were. Seven hesitated and then with unease related how she had drawn Voyager into a fight with the creatures the Borg were fighting. That was what the Borg needed, Voyager had a tool that hurt the creatures badly and the Borg needed it or they faced destruction. Seven continued to show me her tale, and how it had eventually ended with her having to stay on Voyager.

Seven showed me how she had woken after being separated from the Borg, the sense of aloneness she had felt, the overwhelming silence within her own mind. I felt how frightened she had been at the silence, the sense of only being one mind, one voice, and how small she had felt. The fact that she had been frightened had frightened her, as she was not used to feeling any emotions, and she had desired nothing more than to return to the Borg. The Voyager clan alpha female had denied her request and communicated to her that she belonged to the Voyager clan now, that she should rediscover what it was to be 'human'.

Seven explained to me that just as I was Rana she was Human, what she had to relearn was how to be a member of her own race instead of being a member of the Borg. They had taken off her metal skin and made her look as human as possible, the metal above her eye, her hand an a few other places were the only visible reminders of her past.

Fleeting dim images of the other members of the Voyager clan came from her, how the alpha male continued to view her with suspicion, how many members of the clan viewed her as an outsider or worse as still a member of the Borg. Few of them accepted her as a member of the Voyager clan even after almost two full rounds of seasons. Seven felt that she was not a full member of the Voyager clan but she did not want to go back to the Borg now either. She was currently at an impasse in her attempt to become one of them, finding herself unable to let the Voyager clan get any closer to her, keeping herself distance from them by hiding behind a forbidding exterior.

I was certain that much of what I had learned of her she had not meant to show me. How she felt about being separated from the Borg and about how she saw her place in the Voyager clan for the images were not clear like the ones before them, but hazy as if they were not primary in her attention but had been called up by what she had been showing me.

Seven then showed me that she had taken the small ship which she now called a shuttle out to explore a something and had gotten separated from Voyager when some type of storm arose that forced her to seek shelter. Only the shuttle had gotten badly damaged during the storm and when they tried to land, here there was the image of the shuttle going from the air to the ground, they had crashed. The image that followed that was similar to what I had witnessed and I showed her what I had seen of the shuttle landing. That was when Seven had been injured, I got the image of her head slamming into the hard surface I had found her seated in front of in the shuttle.

I showed her how I had found her in the shuttle and had cleaned the wound on her head, and then the confrontation between my parent, Scarface, and I over my staying with her. I formed and image of her and me together, then me grooming her and the distinctive scent of our two scents mingled to indicate that we were rann. I showed her how I had formed my own rann to be with her. She was no longer alone, I did not care that she had once been a member of the Borg nor did I care what the Voyager clan thought of her, I knew what she had showed me of herself and what I had learned of her and it only made me more certain that I wanted to form a rann with her.

There was a sense of uncertainty from Seven and she showed me images of returning to Voyager. There was a worried feeling from Seven as she was almost certain that the Voyager alpha would not approve of Seven letting me stay in the crashed shuttle with her. In response to this thought there was a distinct rebellious feeling from Seven over this because she wanted me close to her, even though her alpha might disapprove of this.

I sensed her trying to puzzle out why she wanted me to stay with her and felt her look deeply into me; I glimpsed how she saw my presence in her mind. I was a warm, comforting, strong, and accepting, it contrasted sharply with the way I saw her in my mind. Seven was cool presence to me; there was a sense of stillness that hid undercurrents that roused my curiosity and an overriding sense of aloneness that I wanted to chase away

Following this sense of exploration of how I felt to her I got the wistful feeling from Seven that she wished her alpha cared more about her but she had been told in the past by her alpha that the clan and her position as alpha came before Seven. I was not certain from Seven's feeling if she wished to become her alpha's mate or whether she just wished her alpha cared more about her, but whichever Seven had decided that it was not possible and had felt more alone ever since. Now she was separated from her clan and alone but for me, a stranger who had cared for her, and offered her friendship and a bond that meant she would be as important as family to me and she did not want me to go away.

The dream faded shortly afterward and I awoke to find her, or rather Seven, still in the same position close to me with my chin resting on her head fur. I felt her wake and half expected her to pull away from me given what she had shown me about how she acted with the Voyager clan but she did not. I shifted and pulled her gently over onto her back where she looked at me out of grey blue eyes.

I examined the wound on Seven's head and was pleased to see it was almost fully healed then began her mornings grooming. She stilled and I thought she would protest but eventually she relaxed and let me continue my grooming of her. When I finished cleaning her face, head fur and neck she reciprocated by stroking my muzzle, face, head and neck with her hands spreading her scent on me as I had on her and as I had shown her how the rann acted with each other in the mornings. Her actions as she did this were filled with both uncertainty and defiance and I wondered if she was thinking about her alpha as she spread her scent on me. The ritual completed I got up on all fours and went to the partially open side of the ship and rumbled a request and made the sign for open, hoping she would understand that I needed to relieve myself.

Seven got up and unsteadily walked over to the panel and lowered the side of the ship for me to get out. After I finished my marking of our territory I walked over to where she was standing holding the square object I remembered the male holding and looking at it intently. Of all the sounds she made then trying to communicate with me I only recognized a few, my name Seeker being one of them and Voyager being another.

Seeing my puzzlement she paused then slowly she made the sign for fix and pointed at the ship and then the sign that meant one wished to talk. Finally she said the word Voyager and made the sign for clan. I tilted my head curiously for a moment then rumbled my acknowledgement, gathering that fixing the ship would allow her to communicate with her clan. Remembering the dream from last night and her belief that the Voyager alpha would not be pleased that we had formed a rann, I wasn't particularly happy over the thought of her fixing the ship.

Seven looked pensively at me, correctly interpreting the set of my ears but she said nothing instead she continued walking around the ship examining it closely. When she finished she went back inside the ship and I followed her and watched as she did the same close examination of the interior. I was puzzled as to what she might be doing but it was interesting enough that I was not bored.

When she finished her examination she went to the front of the ship and sat down between the two objects there and removed a piece of the metal of the ship exposing an interesting looking interior what had many flashing lights. Curious I went and sat down behind her and peered in over her shoulder. She glanced at me for a moment then went back to whatever she was doing.

When she turned and pointed at an object on the wall and rumbled a request at me, I stared at her impressed at the speed with which she was learning my language. Then I got up and went over and touched it and looked at her inquisitively. She made a pulling motion so I grasped it with my hands and pulled on it surprised when it gave way and came off the wall. She held out her hands for it so I handed it to her and she opened it then looked at me and made a churring sound of thanks.

When the sun was highest in the sky Seven paused and made the sign for food and did a decent imitation of a Rana question noise. I made an assenting rumble and she rose and waited for me to move out of her way which I hurriedly did, getting up and moving toward the side of the ship closest to the open part. Seven, who had sorted through and stored the objects with the food and water earlier, pulled out two of each and showed me how to open them.

After we had eaten she went to continue whatever she was doing at the front of the ship and I followed her. When the sun went down she waited for me to relieve myself then closed up the side of the ship. I was curious that she had not showed any signs of needing to do the same but perhaps her race did not need to. Seven pulled up a square section of the floor and sorted through the materials there pulling out a few of them. Some of them she brought over and laid on the floor where we had been sleeping, these she touched and I watched in wonder as they thickened in size forming what was obviously a cushion against the hardness of the floor.

When she stripped off the covering she had been wearing I stared at her curiously noting that she was bare of fur all over except for another small patch at the juncture of her lower legs. I also noticed Borg metal on the arm opposite her Borg metal hand and places on each leg as well.

When she went to put on a new covering I moved over and began grooming her back before she could do so, realizing that I had missed most of her skin from our morning groom. She stiffened rigidly as I began grooming her but as I continued I could feel her sigh and relax and she slumped forward letting me continue. Excepting her breasts and the area between her legs which she strenuously protested me cleaning, I was able to clean her from head to toe leaving her thoroughly marked with my scent.

Seven had flinched and stiffened at first when I cleaned her arm where the Borg metal showed but when I came to the second place and did not hesitate to clean the Borg metal along with the skin she stopped flinching and relaxed. I knew from the dream the night before that she was used to thinking of the Borg metal as repulsive and was used to most of her clan members not wanting to touch them or be touched by them. She was more than half asleep when I finally finished and merely lay down beside me once I was done and began sleeping, the material she had planned to use to cover herself apparently forgotten.

Once again we met in our dreams, Seven was unclothed as she had fallen asleep and she stared at me with confusion and seemed to be asking me why my grooming felt pleasant. I was confused and tried to make her understand that I didn't know why she was asking, of course being groomed was pleasant. Seven shook her head and tried again, apparently being groomed felt very good and relaxing, causing her to be unable to protest a closeness that she would normally not allow and she was asking me why. I got the strong sense that the only reason she was asleep now was because it relaxed her so much. I also realized that she had not slept since she was a child.

I did not know why she was reacting to being groomed in such a manner and let her know that I didn't experience that when another Rana groomed me. I grinned at her and told her that it felt that good all the Rana would do all day would be to groom one another. She stared at me, as if asking if I were being truthful and I began to feel somewhat angry with her for doubting me. Upon feeling my outrage she hesitated a moment, and then I felt a wave of apology from her.

I offered to not groom her tomorrow morning and she sent back an affirmation and I felt a wave of relief from her. I was somewhat disappointed but understood that she felt as if she were loosing control of her actions because of it. She calmed and began sending me images and concepts of what she had been doing all day, apparently the ship was hurt and she was trying to heal it, 'repair' was the term she used. When she had repaired the ship she would be able to contact the Voyager clan and let them know that she was alive and where she was located.

I formed an image of the rectangular object that she had used earlier in the day and sent a questioning feeling along with it. In reply I got images of the object which she called a 'tricorder' allowing her to detect problems in the ship. I wasn't sure after she had completed the series of images exactly how it managed to tell her so many things but I could accept that it allowed to see things that her eyes, ears and nose could not.

I sensed ambivalence and worry from Seven over what would happen once Voyager found her through the entire time she had described why she was repairing the ship. I knew Seven sensed that I was curious about why she was certain her alpha would not approve of us being a rann but she was ignoring my curiosity making it clear she was unwilling to discuss the matter and so I did not press her.

Curious about one last thing I questioned why she had not wanted me to groom certain areas of her body and got back frank images that let me know they were associated with human mating behavior. Embarrassed I sent apologetic feelings toward her for trying to groom those places earlier but she quickly sent back reassurances that she was not angry. I explained to her that the Rana did not develop sexually until they met their mates, so it simply had not occurred to me that she would as she was also unmated. I sensed curiosity from her at this but she did not ask anything further, simply accepting it and again sending reassurances that she was not upset.

In the morning when we awoke I refrained from grooming her and watched as she got dressed and let me out for my morning run around the ship. I scented other clan ranns that had come to see the bizarre object, as was custom they kept their distance after realizing I had formed a new rann. It would be up to me to introduce my rann to the clan after a period of time. I began to feel unsteady on my feet after a short while and decided to make my way back toward the ship. I managed to make it into the ship before starting to feel decidedly ill and shaky, and looking at Seven, I could tell she was not feeling any better.

Seven made her way over to the tricorder and ran it over herself and looked at the readings with a frown then shakily ran it over me as well and stared at the readings. I was feeling more ill by the moment and when she lay down beside me and started repeating the word for groom I was confused but weakly did as she asked. I immediately began to feel slightly better as I cleaned both her hands. When I was done she ran the tricorder over both of us and frowned at the results then got up and closed the side of the ship back up and stripped off her covering then lay down on her stomach near me and repeated the sound for groom and added a rumbled request.

Confused for she had been clear about not wanting me to do this in the dream last night, I did as she asked and finally made the connection she had obviously made with her tricorder earlier. The illness we both felt was linked to my not grooming her. After washing her for just a few minutes I was feeling much better and it was obvious from her state of relaxation that she was feeling better as well. Knowing that my grooming her gave Seven a sense of euphoria I cleaned every inch of her that was appropriate of me only avoiding the areas she had indicated were for mating.

When I was done she rolled over and looked at me with slightly dilated eyes and then stroked her hands along my face, head, neck and chest spreading her scent on me. Within a few minutes her eyes had returned to normal and with one last use of the tricorder she put back on her covering. I tried asking her why I needed to groom her but she looked frustrated and told me that grooming was needed. Finally I gathered that there were not sounds or signs in Rana for her to explain.

Today she opened the box she had used earlier and named all the items in the box until I remembered them. It was then my duty to hand her the instrument she asked for and to place the instruments she gave me in the correct spot in the box. We broke for lunch and a short break then worked again until night fell.

Chapter 3

That night when we slept I asked her what she had learned from the tricorder and why I had to groom her to keep both of us from being ill. Seven stilled for a moment and then began sharing me what she had discovered. For some reason we had changed inside, she needed something that was in my saliva and I needed something that was being secreted from her skin.

I didn't fully understand all the concepts she was showing me but I understood that Seven was convinced that it was not by chance that this was happening to both of us. Something was causing it on purpose, because the same element in my saliva was also what was causing her to feel extremely relaxed and contented when I washed her. But she could not think of a reason why it was happening and she could not find what was causing it with the tricorder.

I sensed then a faint wish for things like the tricorder but more powerful aboard Voyager and a male human she called the Doctor. Seven was certain that with those and with the male human's help she could find out what was happening and why.

Seven broke the quiet that had fallen between us by beginning to explain what her life was like before she met me. Seven told me how Voyager, which was a very large ship, traveled in an area she called 'space' which was between us and the stars that were in the night sky. She explained how the stars were like the sun that warmed the day only very far away, here I got the impression from her of a distance so vast that it was difficult for me to comprehend, so that all that reached my 'planet' was their light.

After she explained all this she regarded at me curiously and I caught that she was surprised by how well I understood what she was describing and how I seemed to be able to understanding more and more of what she was communicating every day. Along with these thoughts were ones of how much she was enjoying these nightly dream meetings, how much they reminded her of the one thing she missed from the Borg, the ease of sharing information. There was also the realization of how different they were from the Borg way of sharing, Borg had not projected warmth, caring and protectiveness for her, but I did, and to her surprise she found herself valuing it.

I was enjoying them as well, perhaps more so than Seven as there were so many new concepts and ideas I was learning. Interestingly enough I was also feeling how Seven formed all these words she was using. In my dream uncomfortable and odd sensations filled my mouth as I seemed to automatically echo the words she was thinking. But it was a small discomfort to bear in exchange for all the things I was learning.

Seven was still not certain what she should do when Voyager found her and I realized abruptly that she needed assistance from them. She could not stay on my planet; the remaining Borg parts needed occasional repairs that could only be done on Voyager. I realized all this suddenly from her thoughts and felt a rush of worry. Seven's thoughts broke into mine as she realized what I had had picked up from her, letting me know that she could make most repairs using the tools on the shuttle. Seven reassured me that she was in no immediate danger and being able to sleep was the greatest help.

After a moment of quiet there was an excited feeling from Seven and she began explaining carefully why her alpha would be displeased over Seven letting me stay. I got the sense from Seven that she had been unable to find concepts I would understand before tonight but now I understood more and now she could explain why to me.

The Voyager clan was part of a larger clan that Seven called the Federation clan. This clan believed that it was a very bad thing to show races that did not have ships their tools and ideas. I was confused as to why and Seven related a story from the Federation past when they had given tools and ideas to a race only to have them destroy themselves because they were not ready for them. In remorse the Federation decided it could not tell which races were ready and which were not so they made the rule that unless the race had ships they were to be left alone. Federation clan members were not supposed to even let such races see them.

Obviously Seven had broken this rule and I protested to her that she had been unconscious when I had found her how could her alpha be unhappy with her when she was not able to hide? Seven answered that her alpha would not be unhappy about that but by the fact that Seven had not insisted that I leave. Now of course things were more complicated with me being unable to leave as we both would become ill because of what was happening to us.

I asked her what she thought her alpha would do and Seven sent back confused feelings and then reluctantly showed me she thought that the Doctor, a picture of the human male I had seen from her before came to my mind, would repair both of us and Seven's alpha would insist that I return to my rann.

What if I wished to stay with her even after we were both repaired I questioned. Seven replied that she did not know but I sensed that she thought her alpha would simply return me to my rann and ignore my wishes as she had ignored Sevens when she was first separated from the Borg. Seven felt her alpha would be certain that she was correct and would ignore my or Seven's decisions.

Presented with this possibility I felt anger that Seven's alpha might not listen to my wishes in the matter and I let Seven know I did not think much of her alpha then lapsed into a frustrated silence. I sensed Seven's agreement with my feelings of frustration but she communicated nothing further to me though I sensed that other than this one failing Seven thought her alpha was a good leader.

In my frustration I the memory of Scarface asking me over the unconscious Seven whether or not I had chosen her for my mate arose and I suddenly realized that the idea did not seem as odd now as it did then. Part of me wished that I was acceptable to her as more than just a companion, what we had shared over the past few dream times had only increased the sense of closeness, caring and protectiveness I felt for her. But with the explanation of her alpha's possible reaction and the fact that Seven did not regard me as a possible mate I knew it was impossible.

A faint sense of surprise and wonder from Seven reminded me that she picked up thoughts that I did not intend her to know, as I picked them up from her. I felt embarrassed but received a sense of reassurance that she was not offended that I cared that much for her, then there was nothing else and I drifted into sleep.

The next morning after I groomed her she examined me curiously with her hands, eyes and finally with the tricorder and appeared puzzled and worried by the results. Seven showed me my hands and trailed her fingers over the calluses on the knuckles which were thinner than I remembered them being. Then she felt of my face and made a noise of surprise as apparently something was different about my face as well. When she opened her mouth at me I opened mine back and she guided my hand up to feel my teeth which should have been pointed but had changed and felt flatter, only the teeth that were normally longer than the others felt like they were the same.

When she had stroked my fur earlier I noticed I seemed to be shedding and I continued to slowly shed throughout the day causing her to fuss at me as my hair was getting inside the places she was repairing. I suspected I was supposed to be embarrassed when she held up one of my hairs that she had just pulled out of what she was repairing in front of my face and raised the metal above her eye at me but I found her amusing and rumbled my amusement at her letting her know it. I immediately realized that had been a mistake when she correctly interpreted my actions and narrowed her eyes at me and then insisted that I move away from what she was repairing. By the middle of the day she pulled me outside where she raked her hands over me until all the loose hairs were gone. By that night she had to do it again.

When we met in our dreams that night Seven tried to explain what was happening to me. The exterior changes included me loosing fur on most of my body except for the top of my head where I was apparently growing in new fur. My muzzle had been noticeably shortening all during the day and as I had felt for myself this morning my teeth were changing shape.

Seven explained that I was also changing inside, and though I could not understand all of the images she showed me or the words she used, I understood that I was changing into something else. From the nature of the changes that had already occurred Seven strongly suspected that I was becoming more human like but she could not figure out a reason for why it was happening or how it was happening.

Once again I caught a feeling of desire for the tools on Voyager from Seven, along with a desire for guidance and reassurance from her alpha. Close on this was a sense of confusion as Seven thought about the other things that might happen when her alpha arrived. Then I sensed Seven determinedly turning her attention away from the plethora of future possibilities as she focused her concern on what was happening now to me.

Seven asked if it had ever occurred before, had I ever heard of another Rana who changed. I replied that I had never heard of any Rana that had, and she next asked if there had ever been another non-Rana here. I had guessed she would ask this question next and I repeated to her the Rana history I had been taught as a cub. How a non-Rana female had made us the way we were today and had taught us many things then disappeared leaving behind empty metal caves. I then showed her images of the metal places. Seven was very curious about these places and I showed her that we could visit one that was not very far away if she wanted to.

The next morning while I was grooming her Seven seemed restless, so I rushed through it, but then she looked briefly unhappy when I stopped. I was confused by her behavior but got the clear impression that she would not welcome a discussion of what was bothering her from the way she quickly turned away from me. Instead I decided to let it lie and see if she were more willing to discuss it during the night when we dreamed together.

Seven was eager to go visit the metal places and she stored food and several waters in a pouch she slung around her shoulders. As we traveled I used my nose, ears and eyes to keep an eye out for other Rana and for animals which might present a danger to us. Seven, of course, used her tricorder and I was amused by this but had realized a few days before that she did not have my sense of smell though her eyesight and hearing were almost as keen.

We reached the metal ruins well before the time the sun was highest in the sky. I was unhappy to note that I was having difficulty moving and that my back, hips and rear legs hurt from the short distance. Seven would have spent the entire day there had I not insisted we head back so we would make our den before the sun fell. It was not particularly dangerous to be out at night but it did make it harder to travel and more likely one of us might get hurt.

She had brought back with her something she had found in the ruins and as she had fixed the 'lights' the day before she spent much time after the sun went down studying it until I laid down without her to sleep. Upon seeing me do so she came and lay down beside me after touching one of the panels and lowering the lights until I could barely see the outline of her. Once there she lay awake, keeping me awake as well, until I rolled over and washed her face and neck then tugged until she turned over. I had watched her put on the covering and figured out that it opened and closed in the back, now I opened it and proceeded to wash her back, by the time I was done she was asleep.

That night she tried to describe to me what she had found, the non-Rana who had been here had been, Seven paused and then started explaining about people who investigated living things and how they lived. Seven called them biologists, this non-Rana had been a biologist and the Rana had been the focus of her investigations just as our history told us.

Seven told me the thing she had found was a copy of the female's lab notes, it was damaged though and several gaps existed where the information had been destroyed. The lab notes appeared to be written so there were no pictures of what the female looked like and Seven had found no information that would let her identify the race the female belong to.

However, Seven did know the name of the biologist, she called herself Katara. The information Seven had retrieved so far were notes on the Rana before Katara had begun to change us. Seven told me that she believed the Rana did not originally come from this planet but from somewhere else and Katara had brought a group of us here to study.

Seven told me that Katara had been interested in the Rana because on our original planet we had made a sudden adaptation that had spread to the entire Rana species within three generations. Katara had brought us here to find out how we accomplished that and to purposefully cause adaptations in the Rana she brought with her to this planet. Seven hoped to find out more tomorrow after she had 'deciphered' more of the information she had found. I gathered that the information was hidden somehow and that she had to figure out how to find it in the piece of metal she had brought back.

Curious I asked her what had been bothering her this morning when I groomed her and before she could prevent it I got a sense that she had briefly thought of mating with me as my grooming her had started to arouse her. Apparently she had been ignoring another effect of my saliva, it made her skin more sensitive to touch, but today it had been harder for her to ignore. After I had absorbed this information Seven let me know that she did not want to think about it any more right now. I realized from the nature of her thoughts that the changes that had been occurring to my body altered how she viewed me, she had always known I was intelligent but now she was able to see me as an equal and a possible mate. And she already knew that I cared for her and saw her as a possible mate.

The next morning before I could begin grooming her Seven stopped me and stared at my face and started talking about how different I looked this morning. I felt my own face and understood what she was telling me. I didn't really have a muzzle any more my face seemed as flat as Seven's. The bridge of my nose felt broader than the one on Seven's face and it merged with the bone around my eyes instead of being separate like hers. My face felt bare of fur except for areas on my cheeks and forehead. The new fur I was growing on my head was longer now in contrast and hung down into my eyes annoying me.

My hands had totally lost their callus and were almost completely bare of fur now except for a fine covering of thick hair on their backs. The fingers had become shorter and the placement of my thumb was different. The nails which had once been long were now short and rounded but were still dark brown in color. I realized suddenly that my hands now looked like human hands instead of Rana hands. The skin revealed by all this bareness was only slightly lighter than my tan fur.

The rest of my body was as almost as bare as my hands, except for my back and legs where I retained more fur than anywhere else. I had been able to move about on all fours yesterday even though by the end of the day my hips and back were hurting but today I found myself unable to crouch properly and had to stand upright. Usually I found it difficult to balance while moving and upright but today it felt more natural to be upright than to walk on all fours.

I grumbled briefly about all the changes and realized I sounded different than before, surprised I experimented with the range of sounds I could make. To my amazement I could easily produce sounds I knew I had been unable to before. I stared at Seven, who had been watching me closely as I checked out the changes my body had made while we slept, and tentatively tried to say her name, realizing why I had been echoing her words during our dream times. Trying to put what I had learned in my dreams into practice I attempted to say Seven's name. The first couple of times were mangled beyond recognition but as she watched I managed to say her name for the first time.

"Sev..en," I managed to form the sounds.

"Seeker?" Seven said with amazement clearly in her tone and upon her face.

"Seven," I said again this time much clearer and becoming more confident in my ability to speak

Seven hurriedly pulled out the tricorder and scanned me, "Your throat and larynx have changed shape during the night to a shaped more like a humans." She continued scanning down my torso, "Your backbone and hip structure have changed from yesterday, you appear to be adapting to walking exclusively upright." Seven stopped and looked up at me with curiosity apparent in her eyes.

Seven asked, "Did you understand what I just said?"

Thinking of the proper words to say I nodded, "Yes," then "My back hurts."

Seven considered my statement then nodded, "Your back and hips are unused to being used in this manner it is not surprising that they hurt. Do not over strain them today with trying to walk too far."

I rumbled my agreement then said "Groom." I was pleased that I managed to pronounce the word correctly the first time.

Seven looked uncertain and I had a hard time restraining my amusement. Apparently even though we both needed the contact to keep from being incapacitated she was uncertain about me grooming her now that I looked much more like a human and was able to speak like a human. I had gathered from her explanations of human behavior that they definitely did not wash each other in this manner. "I must groom you," I insisted and she finally removed her covering and lay down.

Knowing that she was starting to think of me as a potential mate affected my behavior as I washed her. I did not want to offend but at the same time I was now very aware of how she was reacting to what I was doing. Cleaning her back was apparently relaxing but the closer I moved to her buttocks the more she tensed and when I moved to clean them I noticed a faint but definite increase in the light musky scent that came from the area between her legs.

To my surprise I found myself drawing in deep breaths of it and realized with surprise that I was becoming aroused by the scent as well, and by the fact that her breathing had changed and her pulse had quickened. I remembered Softfur rumbling in amusement when she was telling me and my sisters about what to expect when were mated. Full of curiosity I had asked her how I would know that I had met my mate.

Softfur told us that we would know by our mate's scent, and when we looked at them we would desire to mate with them. She assured me that my body would let me know in no uncertain way that it was prepared to mate. She would not answer specifics and now I understood why, my body was being very clear that I was ready to mate and who I wanted to mate with. I continued washing down Seven's legs and then indicated she should turn over which she did with only a slight reluctance.

When she turned over she looked at me for a moment and I knew from the widening of her eyes that she had picked up on my arousal as I had noted hers. I also knew that she would understand what it meant that I was aroused at all as the Rana did not react to anyone but our chosen mate. We stared at each other for a few moments longer then she closed her eyes and lifted her face for me to clean her face and neck. When I started to clean her chest I became aware of how her heartbeat had increased and how her breasts had reacted to me being near them by the nipples hardening into prominence.

From her thoughts of human mating behavior I understood this was considered a clear sign of arousal. I glanced upward to her face as I carefully cleaned between her breasts and was caught by the deepening blue of her eyes which were now open as she watched what I was doing. Curious as to what she would do I began to wash the sides of her breasts, coming ever closer to the nipples. It was not something I had done since that first day when she had protested me washing them and I was not certain yet that she wanted to mate with me.

Licking from the under slope of her breast I continued upward. Seven made a noise but did not move to stop me and watched my actions as if mesmerized. I continued my attentions to the crest of her breast, finding out from the sounds she made what she liked. During this she closed her eyes and one hand came up to hold my head against her letting me know that she wanted me to continue.

I noticed that Seven was shivering and moved to cover her and hold her against me, I was surprised and pleased when she buried her head in under my chin and held on to me tightly. Given the way she was acting I was concerned I had hurt her and lifted her face to mine to ask, "Seven? Did I hurt you?"

She shook her head, "I do not understand why I am shivering, you did not hurt me in any way." Seven paused then continued, "As part of my research on adapting to being more human I studied the act of copulation. I believed I understood the process… The reality is more intense than I had expected."

Chapter 4

After a few moments she had stopped shivering but still did not let me go and I responded by holding her tightly against me in return which seemed to comfort her. I realized from the way she was acting by burying her head against me and needing my arms around her that perhaps she was feeling vulnerable after the intimacy we had just shared.

I wrapped my arms around her and stroked her back soothingly and was not surprised when she fell asleep in my arms. An hour later she stirred and stretched and then hesitantly looked up into my face. "Seven," I rumbled out her name and stroked my cheek alongside hers in greeting.

She smiled faintly and stroked her fingers along my cheek in her version of the same greeting, "Seeker." Suddenly she pulled the long hair on my head down to cover my eyes and with clear amusement said, "I believe you need a hair cut."

I nodded, "I appear to be growing hair like yours." I paused a moment searching for the proper words, "It will be nice to have a proper covering for some part of my body."

Seven looked at me surprised, "When did you learn all those words?"

I rumbled my amusement, "From you Seven, each night when we communicate in our dreams you think and form the words for those thoughts and I repeated them to myself. I wondered why I seemed to be repeating them aloud but now I know why." I was slow in my speech as I had to find the proper words in my memory but all the words and concepts we had discussed over the past few nights were fresh in my mind.

Seven looked thoughtful at my answer and continued stroking me along my back, I watched her curiously until she admitted, "I do not know how to touch you, I do not know what would be pleasing to you."

I was embarrassed to admit that I had no idea either, as she could not develop a male organ and I had not developed mine, but I had no choice, "Rana do not experience sexual feelings until after they meet their mate," I began.

Seven flinched and began to sit up, "You do not want me to touch you."

Sitting up quickly I grabbed her shoulders and said, "I touched you because I realized you were my mate and I desired to mate with you, but we did not mate like the Rana." I explained in frustration looking directly into her eyes.

Seven stopped moving and stared back at me as understanding dawned in her eyes, "How do the Rana mate?" she asked and settled back beside me.

"The Rana are not like your race or other animals, we do not have male and female but female only," I began and had to grin at her look of puzzlement and the obvious question on her mind. "When a Rana recognizes her mate whichever one of them is the better hunter will develop their male organs and impregnate the other, they will also become the alpha of the rann."

"I had detected that you were a hermaphrodite with the tricorder earlier," said Seven nodding, but using a word I did not know.

I looked at her puzzled and she continued, "You have both male and female sexual organs."

I nodded and continued, "You do not have male organs only female and I have not developed my male organs. I am uncertain of what to do," I told Seven.

"How did you know how to touch me?" Seven asked.

"You showed me in your mind last night when you admitted that you thought about me mating with you. Your thoughts showed me where you wanted me to touch you," I told her.

Seven flushed slightly and looked to the side then nodded and moistened her lips before looking back at me and saying hesitantly, "Would you mind if I examined you? Perhaps a method of proceeding would become clear."

I rumbled in amusement and obediently rolled over and opened my legs so she could examine me; I had to admit the idea of her explorative touch there was arousing in and of itself.

Seven moved until she was in between my legs. Looking at my face Seven said, "Let me know if I hurt you."

"What?" I said in surprise and sat up suddenly; causing Seven to move back as I examined the area for myself. Sure enough there was an opening forming but I did not feel as if I was becoming an alpha… "I do not understand," I said confused. "I do not feel as if I am becoming the alpha of our rann, I do not feel as though either of us is alpha, but my male organs are developing. It is not the proper order." I said the last rather plaintively to Seven.

Seven moved from between my legs to lying beside me and tentatively embraced me offering comfort. I had to be amused at the awkward way she did so but I understood that it was not something she was used to doing and for her to attempt it showed how much she cared for me. "I am sorry," she said, "I do not know what is happening to you, the medical instruments in the shuttle are not sensitive enough for me to tell exactly what is occurring."

I hugged her in return and pulled her close to me rubbing her back soothingly, "I will be alright I am sure."

Seven pulled back, "How do you know this?" she said demandingly.

At a loss for a reasonable reply I merely answered, "I do not feel sick; the changes are not hurting me. Perhaps they are normal for Rana when mating with someone who is not Rana." I was grasping for explanations and knew it but Seven looked thoughtful at my response.

"Perhaps," she said. "I must finish reconstructing the date in the data cube we found in the ruins yesterday. I believe the information contained in it may explain what is happening to you."

She moved as if to get up and a small sound of disappointment escaped me. Seven paused and looked inquiringly with the metal about her one eye raised and then she stilled for a moment before smiling slightly and saying, "But perhaps it should wait?"

I nodded vigorously, entirely aware that she was teasing me but not minding.

By now I was unabashedly whimpering at the slow pace she was setting and could see that she was perfectly aware of what she was doing to me in her eyes. "Seven please," I begged.

In response she looked at me and I could see the fierce satisfaction in her gaze that what she was doing was pleasurable enough that I would beg her for more.

I was feeling incredibly satisfied with my life and my new mate and I could not help but begin to rumble my pleasure in a continuous vibration as I breathed in and out. Seven placed a hand against my chest lifted her head up looking at me with amusement evident on her face. "I believe you are purring," she said.

I paused and asked, "Purring? I am merely expressing how happy I feel."

"You are purring," she said authoritatively, with an amused look, and lowered her head again to my chest.

I shrugged, as it did not matter to me what she called it, and wrapped my arms about her and held her close. We must have dozed for only an hour before she stirred, "I should begin working on the data cube, it is not efficient to sleep all day." Seven paused and then admitted in a small voice, "Though it is pleasant to lie with you after," Seven hesitated and then said, "mating and sleep. I have not slept since I was a child, I have tried since being separated from the Borg but I was unable to until now."

I nodded as she merely stated what I already knew and said, "Sleeping is a pleasant thing to do. Rana usually sleep most of the day and are active in the afternoon and dusk."

Seven sat up and looked down at me, "I do not want to spend most of the day sleeping."

I sat up and replied, "Then we shall get up. Can I help you with this data cube?"

Seven considered my question then shook her head slowly looking thoughtful. She got up and grabbed a thin rectangular object and then went and stood at the wall of the ship by what I now knew was a control panel and tapped various places on it. When she was satisfied with whatever she had done she returned to me and showed me the object.

I took it from her curiously, "This is a padd," Seven said as I did so. "Can you read the words on it?"

I looked at the surface and saw that it was covered with… letters. And letters formed words, the concepts were slowly gelling in my mind making sense of this human way of communication. I looked again at the letters and realized I could read most of the words. "Some of the words I do not know but most of them I recognize," I answered her.

"Show me the words you do not know," Seven said abruptly.

I flattened my ears at the tone and stared at her unhappily.

"Show me the words you do not recognize please," Seven repeated in a lower tone and looking subdued. When she sat down beside me and leaned against my side I understood she was apologizing for her behavior and I showed her the words I was having trouble understanding. She explained them then watched me read some more before getting up, dressing, and starting her work on the data cube. When I came to a word I did not recognize I would wait for her to glance up and then ask her what it meant and she would explain.

The words she was having me read appeared to be a basic level teaching text about how things were put together, how the world rotated around the sun. How the plants lived on the energy from the sun's light. How all things were made up of smaller and smaller parts. I was still reading and absorbing all the fascinating information when my stomach grumbled at me.

I looked up and saw Seven glancing at me with an amused look, when she saw me looking at her she said, "You are hungry?"

I nodded and levered myself off the floor and went to the storage area where the food was kept and took out two of the bars and water there. Turning I handed one set to Seven who took them unenthusiastically. I paused for a moment and then said, "I will be back in a few minutes." I turned and ignoring the strangeness of walking upright, left the shuttle and headed toward the patch of kaltan grass I knew was nearby. Once there I broke off as many of the heavy seed heads as I could carry and brought them back with me.

Seven was standing at the shuttle door watching for me when I returned and handed the seed heads to her saying, "These are good to eat, if you do not want to eat the ration bars."

She nodded, "I will have to determine if they are safe for me to eat."

I looked at her puzzled then remembered some of what I had read this morning and nodded. I understood now that very small animals could exist in the seeds that I would not notice having grown up eating them, but that could make her very ill. Also there could simply be inorganic materials that I could digest which she could not. When she laid them down on one of the benches and went and brought back the tricorder to examine them I waited to see what the results would be.

"Neelix would be pleased to know about these," Seven stated when she was finished and I gathered that they were safe for her to eat. An image of a friendly but strange short man formed in my mind at the name Neelix and I remembered that he was the Voyager member that prepared food for the rest. "They appear to be very nutritious," she finished saying.

Curiously Seven examined the seed head and then extracted one of the seeds and began eating it. I waited to see if she would like the taste and was pleased when she looked surprised and said, "They are sweet," in a surprised tone. I was amused by her surprise but then remembered from her memories Neelix's favorite food staple, some bitter tasting root called Leola. Compared to that the kaltan seed was far superior, as it was sweet and had a very pleasant flavor. I was not surprised when Seven began extracting the seeds from the seed head.

I sat down on the floor of the shuttle and showed her how to snap the stem of the head which caused the coverings of the seed to loosen, then one could just shake the stem firmly and the seeds would fall out. We removed all the seeds from the stalks I had picked and had them along with half a ration bar for Seven and a full bar for me.

Afterward Seven looked disinclined to move as the day was warm and she had not yet repaired the environmental controls. Instead she looked at me and asked, "Is there a body of water nearby where we could bathe? My bio suits keep my skin clean but my hair," at this point she dragged her hand through the blond hair with a disgusted look on her face, "Needs cleaning." Seven sniffed pointedly at me, "And you could use bathing as well Seeker."

I rumbled in amusement at this and replied, "There is a stream not too far away that my parents' rann uses for bathing. If we go to the part that is closest to here we will not be encroaching on their territory."

I stood and grimaced at the thin covering of hair on my legs, the kaltan grass had scratched me in several places earlier, thankfully my feet still retained the tough pad on the bottom and I could walk without the shoes that Seven required. Seven came over and made a sound of concern as she saw the red marks.

"You are injured," she commented bending over and gently touching my leg.

I growled an irritated affirmation, "My fur is so thin now that it does not protect me from the kaltan grass."

Seven glanced at my face as I said this and raised the metal around her eye for a moment at my tone. She then went over to one of the storage areas and rooted through it and finally brought out a small package which she examined then tore open and pulled something that was… I searched for the proper term for the color, white out of it and handed the item to me, "I believe these will fit you, the fabric will protect your legs from further injury."

I took it from her and realized that it was white colored fabric, when I shook it out I realized that they were… they were, I sought in my mind for the term and finally found it, pants was the proper name. I examined them puzzled as to how to put them on and then remembered how Seven dressed. Carefully maintaining my balance I slid first one leg and then the other through the top. The material at the top of the pants stretched and fit snugly about my waist once I was wearing them properly.

"Do they fit comfortably?" Seven inquired looking at where the fabric ended several inches above my feet.

I paced around the ship interior for a moment then made an assenting rumble and was about to follow it up by saying it verbally when Seven replied, "Good I was concerned that they might be too tight, would you like to wear the shirt as well?"

I rumbled my agreement and she promptly turned and after a few seconds handed me a white shirt. Holding it up I stared at it for a moment trying to figure out how to put it on, then realized the only possible way would be for me to get in it from the bottom and pull it down. I fought for a few moments with the hole for my head and figuring out how to get my arms in the… I thought for a moment, in the sleeves.

When I was finally done I looked at the sleeves which fell a few inches above my wrists, I was not certain of how it was supposed to look but Seven's sleeves fell even with her wrists so I suspected mine were too short. Fortunately the shirt and pants were loose instead of fitting closely to the skin as Seven's clothes did, I was certain that I would not like the feel of them if they were as close as hers.

Seven looked at me for a long moment then said in a slightly lower tone than normal, "White suits your coloration. You look… beautiful."

I churred at her in thanks for the compliment.

She smiled briefly and said, "You are welcome," and went back to rummaging round in the storage area. As I watched curiously she pulled out a bag and placed a few items within and then hung it on her shoulder and turned back to me. "I have the required personal cleaning supplies." Seven went over to where she had laid down the tricorder and picked it up along with what I now knew was a phaser. Then she looked at me expectantly.

Clearly it was time for us to go, I thought with amusement and led the way out of the shuttle. This time we did not go toward the morning sun but to the right of the setting sun and up the hill. I kept my ears, nose and eyes alert for any signs of danger and Seven examined everything around her curiously. I paused for a moment to show her the patch of kaltan grass, "This is kaltan grass." I showed her the plant and seeds and she took tricorder readings of the grass and area.

"Do you know the length of the germination cycle?" Seven asked me curiously.

I was confused by the word, "Germination cycle?"

"Length of time between when the grass begins to grow and when it produces mature seed," Seven explained.

I rumbled an acknowledgement absently while I thought about the question. I knew that in a full cycle of seasons the kaltan grass produced seeds twice between two seasons of cold. "Between two cold seasons the kaltan grass will produce seeds two times." I informed Seven.

"A year, or full cycle of seasons is 360.4 days, do you know how long the cold season lasts as a fraction of the full cycle?" Seven asked me.

I walked a bit slower as I considered this and finally answered, "The cold season is about the same length as the other seasons, one fourth of the time of a full cycle."

"Approximately 90 days then, which would make the germination cycle of the kaltan grass 135 days," Seven frowned slightly. "I do not know if it will be possible to grow it aboard Voyager."

"I think it will not be that long, it takes time for the ground to warm enough for the grass to appear even after the days warm." Guessing her next question I answered, "Perhaps as many as thirty days, but I have never counted so I cannot tell you a," I searched for the correct word, "exact time."

"If the germination cycle is approximately 100 days then it can be grown aboard Voyager, we have several other plants that are grown which have cycles of similar lengths," Seven replied with a pleased tone and almost absently as we walked let her hand trail over the kaltan grass's tasseled top.

Chapter 5

We had topped the last rise between us and the stream and now we looked down the hill at its length. It wound between hills; and the vegetation around its banks was different from that of the grasslands as it was surrounded by short trees. The ground beneath the trees was covered not by the tall grasses but by a much shorter and softer grass which was pleasant to walk upon. On the other side of the stream the land rose steadily to a range of mountains, and the trees on that side were taller than the ones on the grassland side.

The stream itself was not usually that deep, but the spot I had led us to, was a place where the stream widened and deepened into a pool that was deep enough to bathe in. And unlike the rest of its rocky floored length, the pool had a fine layer of sand at the bottom further increasing its value as a bathing site.

We covered the rest of the distance and entered the shade of the trees, when we reached the pool Seven knelt and scanned the pool with her tricorder. "The water is remarkably clean, most likely due to the speed of the current preventing the growth of microorganisms," Seven announced. She then spread one of the silver sheets under the tree and laid the carry all on it and began to pull out the items she had brought with her.

While she was doing this I stepped close to the water and stared at my reflection curious as to what I looked like now. The proportions of my legs, torso and arms had changed, my legs had lengthened significantly and my torso seemed to have shortened, leaving me proportioned more like Seven. I was taller than she of course, as when we stood together I could easily place my chin on the top of her head.

My shoulders were wider and I seemed much more muscular than Seven. To my eye I did not look as heavily built as I had as an unchanged Rana, instead I looked lean, with my muscles showing clearly under the skin. My newly bare skin was a light tan in color, a shade paler than the tan fur that remained. My stripes still remained as patterns of darker areas of my skin across my chest and stomach.

My face had changed almost beyond recognition except for a few things such as my eyes which remained slitted and topaz colored, the long hair on my head which was at least the same chestnut color as my stripes and my ears which poked up through my hair. My nose had become more slender since the last time I felt of it and my eyebrows started at its bridge and arched above each eye. The general shape of my face was triangular with high cheekbones and a short square chin.

When she was finished placing the items to her liking Seven stood and began stripping off her clothing. I had begun to notice that she had a pleasing shape while we were walking earlier, it was not something I had really noticed before today. Before now she had simply been a non-Rana and I had been attracted to the sense of who she was while we dreamed together. Today though, I found myself noticing the brightness of her hair, the pleasing shape of her face, the gentle swell of her breasts, shape of her hips, the slenderness of her waist, and the length of her legs. I snorted at myself in amusement; it was simpler to admit that all of her was attractive to me today.

Now as I stripped off the clothing that she had given me earlier I found myself watching her entranced as the skin that I had touched earlier was once again revealed to my gaze. Seven noticed me watching her and looked at me curiously then straightened and stood stiffly under my gaze and I realized that she was feeling uncertain.

"You are beautiful," I assured her. I let my eyes wander over her, taking in the proportions of her and feeling a desire to touch her once again. "When I look at you I want to touch you again, to listen to you, to smell you," I met her eyes, "to mate with you and feel you when you have pleasure."

By the end of my words Seven was staring at me with wide eyes and breathing lightly through her slightly open lips. I could tell that her eyes were wandering over my form and I waited for her to finish. When she next met my eyes I could see my arousal mirrored in them.

"We should bathe," Seven said somewhat huskily and then cleared her throat looking surprised.

I nodded and Seven showed me how to use the cleansers she had brought with her. When she had trouble reaching her back I moved behind her and began soaping it for her enjoying the way the soap allowed my hands to glide over muscles and skin. Finally Seven stepped away with a sudden shiver saying, "I will wash your back now."

I turned obediently and groaned in appreciation as she began washing my back applying firm pressure with her fingers as she scrubbed the soap into the fine coating of hairs. For a few minutes, I enjoyed the feel of her running her hands up my back along either side of my spine, then she stopped saying softly, "You should rinse now."

I kneeled in the water so that it was up to my neck and let the current carry the soap away then stood up in front of her and placing my hands under her buttocks lifted her until her breasts were even with my mouth. Seven made a startled sound as I did and reflexively grasped my shoulders.

From there we moved to the blanket and I mated with her once again, this time I was more certain what pleased her and I took joy in the sounds she made and the way she moved against me with abandon as I touched her. The sound of my name as she called it out was sweet to me and I suspected I would never tire of hearing the particular way she said it right before she reached her pleasure.

After she had rested for a few moments on my chest regaining her breath she began touching me. Where she had been tentative at first earlier now she was bold and the possessiveness with which she touched me was arousing in and of itself. She was more thorough this time, touching me in various ways and finding out more of what was pleasurable to me. When she finally filled me I howl-cried her name as I lost sense of everything around me but her touch.

When I finally regained my breath and opened my eyes Seven was resting upon my chest with an extremely pleased expression on her face as she watched me. Her Borg hand was gently stroking my chest just below my collarbone in a lazy manner and I enjoyed the feel of the warm metal lightly rubbing along my skin.

We went back to the pool to wash off again and then laid down in the sun for a short while to dry, before we dressed Seven took out a pair of scissors and carefully trimmed the hair on my head. When she was finally satisfied with her efforts we had spend much more time at the pool than I had thought we would, and as Seven became aware of this as well, she insisted we dress and return to the shuttle.

We had just left the pool when I paused and inhaled the air deeply and then recognized the scent of my parent Scarface. Looking about I located her a discrete distance away, which told me that she had probably come looking for me and heard us together and had moved away to give us our privacy.

'Seven, Scarface is here," I pointed to where Scarface was lying down and was not surprised to see her rise and stand upright looking our way. She made a summoning motion toward us and I looked down at Seven to see what her reaction was. Seven looked slightly anxious but then straightened under my gaze and nodded giving an assenting rumble as well.

"You are my mate, you have nothing to fear from Scarface," I reassured Seven.

Seven reached up and touched my face, "What will her reaction be to how you look now?"

I thought about her question and then realized that Scarface could see me as plainly now as I saw her. She was already aware of the changes that had happened to me, "I do not know but she knows who I am, my scent has not changed and that is more important than sight to a Rana."

Seven nodded and we headed in Scarface's direction. As we got closer I could see the curiosity and concern in my parent's eyes. "She is your mate," Scarface communicated as we got closer.

Seven responded perfectly in Rana with an assenting rumble that startled a clear look of surprise from Scarface.

"She is not Rana but she speaks as one," communicated Scarface and then looked at me slightly annoyed.

I flattened my ears in embarrassment and gave an apologetic sound before indicating to Seven that this was Scarface and to Scarface that my mates name was Seven.

Scarface looked confused for a moment over Seven's name and repeated it once as if to make sure. Formally Scarface signed, "I welcome you daughter to our family," and then moving slowly she rubbed her muzzle against Seven's face.

Seven had the oddest look on her face when Scarface drew away, expressions crossed her face fleetingly, confusion, sadness, a quick burst of what looked like anger, and then wistfulness as she looked back at Scarface who finally rumbled at her questioningly. Seven seemed to come back from wherever she had gone and finally replied correctly by churring her thanks and modifying it with the sign for alpha.

I of course had an idea about why Seven had reacted so to Scarface's greeting and I signed that I would explain later to Scarface and moved up beside Seven and wrapped an arm around her waist. I was pleased when she pressed against me for a moment before she straightened once again.

Scarface moved back and fell to all fours and then sat, politely I sat as well and after a moment so did Seven. Scarface rumbled at me questioningly and ran a curious hand over my face, asking me what had happened to me.

I indicated that I did not know but I believed I was changing to become more like my mate, adding my belief that it was necessary for us to be together. Scarface pondered this then churred her acceptance. What had happened to me was strange, but the idea that I would overcome any obstacle to be able to be with my mate was not strange, it was expected in the Rana culture.

Scarface looked at Seven curiously and I rumbled an affirmation, yes Seven had changed as well.

Seven who had been following the conversation with interest added her own rumble of affirmation and modified it with the sign for internal trying to convey that her changes were not so visible.

Her meaning though could be taken in several different ways and Scarface looked somewhat amused as she rumbled an acceptance. I was amused as well, as both possible meanings were true, Seven had changed physically inside and she had also changed how she thought and felt about me.

Scarface then rumbled an apology to Seven along with the sign for the dead.

I could see Seven was puzzled for a moment then she said aloud, "Ensign Yates," and her face cleared. Seven then churred an acknowledgement followed quickly by a short cough that stood for I understand. Seven paused and then made the sign for the dead and then the sign for something not understood then pointed at Scarface. Seven looked at me and asked, "Did I say that correctly? Ensign Yates, the dead man did not understand Scarface?"

"Yes, but you might want to add what he did not understand," I answered and then watched as she repeated the signs and added a negatory bark and the sign for hurt.

Scarface rumbled understanding then made the sign for daughters, not understood, dead man and then made the same negatory bark Seven had and modified it with the same sign she had, the one for hurt. Only Scarface pointed at herself indicating that her daughters had not understood he had not hurt her.

Seven rumbled her understanding and then a negatory bark and the sign for anger followed by the sign for rann and pointed at Scarface, letting Scarface know that she was not angry at Scarface or my sisters about the incident.

Scarface rumbled in pleasure and then rumbled a request and modified it with the sign for rann and food; we were being invited to come with her for a meal with my parents' rann.

I had been expecting this ever since Scarface accepted Seven as my mate, I did not know though if Seven had expected the invitation.

"It would be unacceptable for us to refuse," Seven stated questioningly.

"It would not occur to a Rana couple to refuse unless they had a previous commitment to the other mate's rann," I answered.

Scarface was obviously curious at the meaning of the strange sounds we were making. When Seven rumbled our acceptance, Scarface churred back at her and stood, apparently we were supposed to go with her right now.

I noticed the widening of Seven's eyes and placed a comforting hand on her back causing her to turn toward me, "Seven they are your clan now as well as mine, you have nothing to fear from them. You know how the Rana view one of their children forming their own rann."

"It is celebrated, but…" Seven looked at me uncertainly, "I am not Rana though, I'm sure they would rather you had a different mate."

I sighed not sure how to make Seven understand that it did not matter that she was not born a Rana. Finally I turned to Scarface who had stopped when we did not follow and was watching us curiously. I knew she had caught the tone with which Seven spoke and her body language and knew that Seven was uncertain about something. I made a questioning bark at Scarface and then pointed at myself and made the sign for Rana.

Scarface actually tilted her head to the side and looked at me as if I were mad and then she made a questioning bark and asked if I felt ill.

I rumbled in amusement and noted that Seven's lips had twitched at this response as well. I repeated the sound and sign to Scarface who promptly replied this time in a tone that left no doubt that of course I was Rana. I then asked if Seven was Rana and saw understanding dawn in Scarface's eyes.

Scarface signed to us that Seven was my mate, and then the sign for something that causes something else and she looked directly at Seven and made the sign for Rana. Then Scarface repeated the signs, except she signed after the causality sign, daughter. All of Scarface's signs were made in a clear and forceful manner, emphasizing that she meant what she was saying.

Looking at Seven, I could see that she was still bothered by something but was finally accepting what Scarface was telling her.

Apparently Scarface saw the same, for the next thing she signed was for her daughter to follow her, and she was not looking at me when she did so. Seven glanced at me quickly and I gave her an encouraging look and rumble.

The next thing Seven did was to straighten slightly and rumble an acknowledgement to Scarface and then audibly take in a deep breath.

I watched Seven during the walk to my parents' rann and noted that she became more and more tense the closer we came. Just before we walked into the den area I stopped her, pulled her to my chest, and wrapped my arms around her. "You are my mate and I am yours. You are Scarface and Softfur's daughter, Swiftfoot and Blackfur's sister. My… family is your family. Such has always been the way of the Rana, and it will not change just because you were not born a Rana." Purposefully I used the human word for rann hoping that it would calm her more.

Seven held me tightly and said into my chest, "I am being irrational, I do not understand why I am experiencing distress over meeting your parents and sisters. I understand how important the concept of the rann is to you, to the Rana. It is much more significant in Rana culture than it is in human culture."

As Seven said this to me she seemed to calm and even pulled away from me to look in the direction of the den. From here we could see the other members of my parents' rann, who were all carefully ignoring us for the moment.

"We should enter your parents den," Seven said finally.

I rumbled my agreement and put an arm around her shoulders, "I have imagined many times what it would be like to bring my mate to my parents' rann." I ran a gentle hand along the side of Seven's face and pushed her hair behind an ear. "In my dreams I did not realize I would feel so much for my mate, I never realized I would be so proud."

Seeing the look of wonder on Seven's face, after I said what I was feeling made me happy that I had thought of telling her. It also had the effect I wanted; it distracted her from her nervousness and when we finally went down to greet Softfur, Swiftfoot and Blackfur she was relatively calm.

Softfur was a wise Rana and quickly set about making Seven feel part of the rann by giving her a knife and some mura roots to slice with my sisters. Scarface and I were sent to gather kaltan seeds which also conveniently took us out of camp so I could explain to Scarface why Seven was reacting the way she was to the rann.

As I was trying to explain Seven's past to Scarface I understood why she had been so frustrated at times when she tried to communicate with me. Thank goodness we had a sign for when you were trying to explain a new idea by listing other things that were similar to it. By the time I was finished Scarface still looked confused but I was fairly certain that she understood that Seven's parents had taken her into a situation they hadn't realized at first was dangerous. By the time they did it was too late and they had been taken by the Borg.

I had made up a new sign for the Borg which was a combination of metal and the sign for a sentient being that was not Rana. Previously this had only been used when speaking of the non Rana female. I was certain that Scarface did not understand what the Borg were but she did understand that Seven had essentially lost the time from when she had been taken at six to two years ago. And that Seven was trying to relearn what it meant to be a member of her own race.

I explained to Scarface that all she remembered of being in a rann were the first six years of her life and that she did not know whether or not her parents were alive or not. I also explained that she was very confused emotionally whenever she thought about them. I had sensed both great anger and great sadness from her when she remembered them.

This lead into a discussion of our relationship and how far it had progressed, I was reassured when Scarface informed me that relationships all started with the bond allowing communication only during sleep. In time it would develop until it was always present between us.

Scarface and I had gathered a large amount of kaltan seed pods by the time we were done with our discussion and the leather sacks we had with us were full as we walked back. I looked immediately for Seven and was pleased to see her conversing with Softfur and watching my youngest sisters curiously. I knew that Scarface had undoubtedly shared with Softfur what I had told her about Seven, so it did not surprise me when Softfur placed one of them in Seven's arms and showed her how to hold the cub properly.

I watched Seven carefully to see how she would react; I did not want her to feel overwhelmed. I could see that Seven was reassured by Softfur's coaching and eventually she relaxed and looked up to see me watching her. I had no doubt that a silly smile adorned my face and was not surprised when she raised the metal brow around her eye at me. The smile that shortly accompanied it though, let me know she was not really annoyed at my reaction.

By the time we ate Seven seemed genuinely relaxed around my parents and sisters, she had been asking questions about the food preparation all evening. And seemed particularly intrigued with our use of a black stone that when crushed and sprinkled with a certain type of dirt and a small bit of water became very hot. We used it for cooking instead of maintaining an open fire because of the fear of starting a grassland fire.

Now Seven was asking Softfur how we had learned how to use the stone to cook with. I do not think she was surprised to learn that this was another thing that Katara had taught the Rana. It was almost dark when the evening ended and Scarface and Softfur offered us a place to sleep, they did not seem surprised when we insisted that we should return to our own den.

"Your parents seemed amused when we refused their offer of a place to stay," Seven said after we were a distance away from my parents' den.

I gave an amused rumble in reply, "I believe they would have been surprised had we accepted," I admitted.

Seven's mouth twitched in reply, "Indeed, their comments implying that perhaps we had other activities planned for the morning besides helping with the kaltan harvest were…," Seven hesitated and then admitted, "accurate."

Seven then glanced at me after she said this and I could see the uncertainty in her eyes and wondered that it was even there. "It was accurate," I agreed with a warm look that caused her fair skinned face to color slightly.


	2. Chapter 6 to 10

**A Perfect Mate – Chapters 6-10**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.

Warning: Contains f/f ?… f/m?... situations between… err consider yourself generally warned of sexual content.

Rating: M (Mature teen and older)

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History:

Notes: Experimental work: development of culture for non humanoid race; androgynous character. Sources for Rana behavior would include lion prides, wolf packs, and the behaviors of chimpanzee and gorilla groups.

* * *

Chapter 6

I was pleased later when Seven, as I had, shed her clothing before lying down with me to sleep. Our dream time that night started out strangely tentatively given what had happened during the day or perhaps because of what happened during the day. There was a hesitant acknowledgement of the changed relationship between us and the feelings for each other that went along with it.

I think Seven was surprised to find that I had been entirely sincere when I said that I had not guessed I would feel so much for my mate and that I had been extremely proud to introduce her to my parents. After the initial hesitancy there was a sense of discovery as we explored each others feelings and memories of the day. By the time we were done we were comfortable again with each other, and I felt as close to her in the dream state as I knew I was physically close to her.

A self depreciating sense of amusement came from Seven and I got the image of a human male, dark haired and dark eyed looking panicked as Seven asked him whether or not he was in love with her. Then he looked even more panicked as she asked whether he wished to copulate and instructed him to take off his clothing. He fled right after Seven assured him that she wouldn't hurt him.

I was confused as a Rana would not look at another Rana in such a manner unless they were supposed to be mates. Seven's emotions in the memory were ones of curiosity and the feeling that the male was acceptable but not any strong feelings of affection beyond a mild one.

Seven sensed my confusion and slight hurt, "I would not do such a thing now," she reassured me. "Humans, unlike Rana, copulate for recreation and there need not be any permanent relationship desired. I was curious about the physical process and wanted to research copulation but now I am pleased that Ensign Kim did not accept my proposal."

Behind her words was the clear sense that she had not realized there was anything significant to the physical act. She had simply been curious as to what it entailed and why humans though it was so important, so she had wanted to experience it herself. However after today, she understood why humans attached so much importance to the act of physical intimacy.

There was a sense of genuine thankfulness toward the male that he had not accepted her offer, she acknowledged that it might have been a pleasurable experience but it would not have been anything like what she had experienced this morning. Feeling her contrasting the cool clinical curiosity of herself then with the memories of the intense need she had felt for my touch this morning, my confused feelings and hurt vanished.

"I am your mate," Seven assured me with no hesitation.

I was content until I remembered Voyagers alpha and her possible reaction.

A sense of resolve came from Seven, "I will not allow her to part us."

Then images came into her mind of her alpha saying to her, "Have you ever thought about trying it yourself? Romance I mean."

Close behind came Seven's hopeful thought that perhaps once Captain Janeway saw the two of us together she would have no more objections. Then hesitantly Seven asked me, "Your family…"

I understood immediately what she meant; seeing me with my parents and sisters tonight had shown her how close I was to them. She was confused now about what to do since she did not want to ask me to leave them to go with her but she could see no way for her to stay here and she wasn't certain that she wanted to leave Voyager.

"I am your mate," I told her and knew that she understood I was telling her I would go wherever she decided. Then I asked curiously, "What is this romance?"

"I am uncertain, the official meaning is to give gifts to the object of one's affection, to do things that express ones love, to speak eloquently about one's feelings, but I have not experienced romance.

Then she hesitated and I felt a sense of wonder from her.

"I am incorrect, according to what I just stated I have experienced romance," Seven regarded me warmly and I saw flashes of me offering her kaltan seeds and my words to her before we walked into my parents' camp.

I felt a quick flare of pleasure at this then I had to ask another question, "What is love?"

After hearing her confused explanation I realized she was not certain she understood what love was. I rumbled at her affectionately and said, "Then I love you, for I feel all those things toward you. We do not have a word though for them, they are just part of what one feels for ones mate."

I felt her wonder and a seeking search from her as the dream connection faded and I began to waken. Not that it was that unpleasant for I was still holding Seven in my arms and I caught my breath as she stretched against me and her eyes drifted open. When they focused on me I could see them darken and Seven's hand which had been curled up on my arm opened and she pressed it palm first over where my heart beat.

"You love me," she said wonderingly.

I had seen something from her while she was thinking of what romance was, two humans a male and female with their lips pressed together in something called a kiss. Her eyes widened some as my face approached hers, then I paused for a moment, "I doubt I will do this correctly."

Her lips twitched and her amusement was reflected in her eyes, "Then further experimentation will be needed until satisfactory results can be obtained."

"Ah," I replied satisfied and then touched my lips to hers. I did not know the specifics of what to expect, only what she had read and what she had witnessed between the members of Voyager. I was surprised when the feel of her lips on mine proved to be as pleasurable an experience as it was. Encouraged by the feeling I tried moving my lips against hers, the results of which led by necessity to further experimentation. By the time we broke apart I felt that I had a decent understanding of the process and that humans should be congratulated for coming up with the idea.

"Seeker," Seven said to me softly and pulled me down again for another long series of kisses. Afterwards I found out that she responded very well to kisses placed anywhere on her neck and especially well to those placed just below her ear. Looking at her with her head thrown back and her eyes closed, her lips slightly parted and her neck arched toward me, I found my breath catching in my throat at how beautiful she was.

I could not do anything else but lower my lips to the offered skin and trail my way slowly down until they rested over the hollow of her throat where I felt her pulse beating strongly.

There I swirled my tongue around the depression and listened with satisfaction to the moan this produced. I worked my way slowly down towards her breasts and was rewarded with further vocalizations. By the time I was resting between her thighs the sounds she was making had a pleading tone that I was quite happy to satisfy. I had been touching her for a few moments when I felt an increasing pressure within my groin.

Confused I paused and gasped causing Seven to open her eyes and question, "Seeker?"

I did not verbally answer her but moved up along her body until I was pressed intimately against her. I could see the question in her eyes, then they widened as her question was answered. By then I was focused on the incredible sensation of such a sensitive part of me being inside her.

I moaned overcome with the sensation of her around me and dazedly opened my eyes to look into Seven's. They were wide, and the deep blue I now associated with full arousal, and there was a startled expression in them which disappeared as my instincts took over and I began to move.

I think we were both lost then within the sensations, acting more on the ageless instinct of the mating dance that our bodies knew even if our minds did not. When she came I felt a sharp moment of pleasure, then thought left me as the sensitivity became suddenly magnified.

I opened my eyes and heard a yowling moan erupting from my throat and dimly realized it was mirrored by a similar moan from Seven. The sounds she made, and the way she felt under me became my world for the next few minutes.

When she came the second time and called my name out in an almost desperate tone there was enough thought left in me to respond, "Seven," softly. Then I had to call out her name again, this time matching the volume and tone of her cry as I felt as if I was pouring out my very self within her.

Suddenly the pleasure I was experiencing became more powerful and it seemed as if I hung motionless, lost within it for a brief eternity. I became aware of Seven underneath me arched against me as I was arched against her both of us totally caught up in the moment. I felt myself inside her, over her, the solid strength of me above her as she held on to me. The intensity of the pleasure she was feeling which mirrored my own.

I realized that she was feeling my experience of her as I was feeling her experience of me, and then we 'looked' at each other and I thought 'the mating bond.' Suddenly the motionless quality of the experience ended and a swirl of intense pleasure caught both of us up in its grip and tossed us about together then gently let us down and I felt myself withdrawing from within her.

I became aware of my surroundings once again; I was sweat drenched, and holding myself above Seven on arms that quivered with exhaustion. Seven's eyes fluttered open and she stared up at me. The bond between us had faded, but it was not entirely gone for I could still sense her emotions. In Seven's eyes was the same wonder and awe that I was feeling.

I lowered myself to lie beside her and gently stroked her face feeling overwhelmed with emotion at how beautiful she was and how much I felt for her. Seven reached up and touched my face and I felt an answering surge of emotion from her. A bead of moisture welled from her eye and ran down the side of her face followed by a few more as she looked into my face. Curious I reached over and wiped her face and tasted my fingers, they were salty and I looked at her inquiringly.

Seven touched her own face and looked at her moist fingers surprised, "Tears." I looked at her puzzled and she explained further, "Humans produce them sometimes when experiencing intense emotions." Seven paused looking thoughtful the continued, "I do not remember having cried before."

At a loss for what to do I went with my instincts and leaned down to kiss her.

When we stopped Seven gave me an amused look, "Will that be your reaction whenever you are confused about how to respond to me?"

I had forgotten that the bond gave her as much information about my emotions as it gave me of hers and I paused surprised for a moment then rumbled in amusement at myself. "That does not sound like a bad idea," I said grinning lazily at her, and I knew my merriment was quiet apparent to her.

An odd sound came out of her and I felt her astonishment at making it. "I…" Seven paused and then continued, "I believe I just laughed."

I rumbled at her curiously.

"It means the same as," Seven made a rumble of amusement.

"Ah, you have been amused at me quite frequently," I told her.

She raised her brow at me, "It is not surprising that I should laugh, you mean, perhaps not." I felt sadness from her, "I have not laughed since I was a child."

"I am glad then that I provided a reason for you to laugh again," I told her. She responded with a wider smile than usual then ran a hand over my hair. We were both keeping a certain distance from each other as we were both sweat soaked and finally I acknowledged it. "Bathe?" I asked simply.

Seven nodded empathically and sat up looking with disgust at her clothing and I knew she was thinking of how unpleasant it would be to try and dress in the tight clothing while sweaty.

"Why not wear clothing like you gave me?" I asked curiously as I pulled on the pants and decided not to wear the shirt.

I could feel indecision from her as she started to reply, "I require the bio suit to…" and trailed off.

"To?" I prompted curiously.

"Help cleanse my skin. But I find that I enjoy bathing," Seven turned and opened one of the panels and after a moment pulled herself out a top, pants and boots pulled them on. She picked up the bag that she had simply placed out of the way, and with only an amused, appreciative look at my bare chest, indicated that we should proceed to the pool.

Chapter 7

The remainder of the day was spent in repairing the environmental controls in the shuttle and working on retrieving more of the data from the data cube. Just as night was falling we were able to repair the controls, and as chill as the air was becoming it was nice to close the shuttle door and let the shuttle warm back up to a comfortable temperature.

We were able to obtain more information from the data cube as well, specifically information about the original Rana. They had been studied quite thoroughly by Katara's race due to their adaptive abilities and capacity to produce a variety of chemical substances. One of these was a paralytic agent secreted in their saliva which had the effect of calming and sedating their prey, allowing them to take down much larger animals than they would be able to otherwise. Seven looked thoughtful as she read this and I knew we were both thinking it was probably the precursor to what was in my saliva now.

The original Rana possessed the ability physically adapt to changes in their environment, making physical modifications over the course of a few days when needed. Examples by other researchers that were cited in Katara's notes, included developing oily hair when the weather turned wetter and modifying their feet into grasping hand when they discovered a new food source in trees.

When the next researcher had visited them, 100 years later, he initially thought the Rana had died out but then realized that the entire population had made an evolutionary jump. They were no longer a foot tall but three foot tall and their appearance had markedly changed as had their general intelligence level. This report was what had prompted Katara to capture some of these new Rana and bring them to this planet to study.

That night was the first night that we did not dream together; instead when we both woke the bond between us was stronger. Our mating that morning was interspersed with pauses as we adjusted to being able to feel each other's reactions. Seven found out how much I enjoyed listening to her and I found out how sensitive her breasts were to touch and that she had frequently wanted me to linger there longer.

She was resting on my chest afterwards when she made the statement, "I believe we can reduce the time we spend mating to 20 minutes thus increasing our efficiency by 97."

I thought about her statement and then rumbled in amusement at her. I glided my hands along her sides and stopped with my thumbs stroking the sides of her breasts and smiled lazily at her. "I apply efficiency to tasks I do not enjoy doing for long periods of time," I informed her thinking of how much I enjoyed our slow explorative mating this morning and knowing that she knew what I was thinking.

Seven looked at me out of eyes that had gotten a shade bluer at my touch and thoughts, "I failed to consider certain… aspects of our mating. Twenty minutes may be insufficient time." Seven arched her back more, inviting my further touch on her breasts. "Perhaps further study is needed?" she tried to keep a distant tone but failed as her breath hitched in the middle of the statement and she gasped when I obeyed her unspoken request.

I felt a warm rush of love go through me as I looked up at her, then I rolled over, placing her beneath me and hovered over one breast, "Twenty minutes?" I lowered my mouth and spent the next several minutes caressing them, we were both aware of time passing.

"Perhaps efficiency cannot be applied to this activity," Seven acceded just before I was going to ask her if she wanted me to continue even though I knew that she did. I rumbled my agreement and we mated for the second time that morning, and it took much longer than 20 minutes.

After we bathed Seven concentrated on getting the communications system working and just after we paused to eat she was able to activate what she called an emergency distress beacon. That task accomplished we worked on finishing repairs on various systems in the shuttle.

My contribution was to hand Seven the tools she needed and to listen as she tried to explain what she was doing. Sometimes I understood what she was telling me and sometimes I did not. I could tell she was making internal notes of what I did not understand and was not surprised when she compiled another padd and gave it to me to study in the afternoon.

Seven continued working and I was aware of a growing sense of unease from her but she refused to discuss it until she studied more of the data the shuttle had recorded during its turbulent trip down to the surface. Later in the evening I dropped my padd and rushed over to her when I felt emotions of stunned dismay from her.

"Seven?" I asked kneeling beside her as she looked blankly at the data in front of her.

Finally she answered, "If this information is accurate then that was not an ion storm as I initially thought but a type of temporal anomaly." Seven paused for a long moment and then scrolled though the data again, "If I am correct it spans this entire system, the time differential between the area enclosed by the anomaly and normal space ranges from 1:31269 to 1:308.69635"

I puzzled out the math and understood suddenly her stunned dismay, "Anywhere from three to around three hundred days occurs here for every day that passes outside the anomaly." We were both silent and I felt a sense of panic start in at the thought of what might happen to her. "It will go away?" I asked.

"Yes," Seven replied. I looked at her questioningly at the short answer. "From my calculations the anomaly will dissipate in approximately seven to ten days normal time, a month to eight years our time. Considering the rate of fluctuation in the time differential, I believe one to five years is probable." We were both silent as we struggled with what this might mean to us, to Seven. "If I use parts from the shuttle I can create a replicator, then I will be able to build the equipment we need to maintain my implants," Seven said to me breaking through the rising frustration and fear I was beginning to feel.

Her words calmed me and I thought about them for a few moments, "You can train me how to take care of them?"

"Yes, I am familiar with every procedure the Doctor on Voyager used to maintain and correct misalignments in my implants and can easily teach you these skills," Seven informed me.

We were both silent for a moment considering the situation, I was thinking that if the minimum time we would spend here was a year perhaps we should consider a more permanent den as I looked around the small interior of the shuttle.

"The hull of the shuttle is comprised of several layers of duranium and tritanium. If we separate these layers we can easily construct a permanent shelter," Seven said in answer to my thoughts.

I considered the area the shuttle had landed in, it was not what I would call an ideal location for a den, though it was close to several food sources it was not close to water. A certain location, located on the other side of the stream from here came to mind. The land there rose from the stream to a flat area dotted with tall trees, and then it climbed upward to the east where there was a small mountain range.

"You wish to build there?" asked Seven.

I rumbled an agreement, "We are too far away from the stream here. There we will have shade during the day for coolness, protection from the wind and it is close to the grasslands for kaltan seed. Mura root grows just downstream from there as well and there is plenty of game both in the trees and nearer the mountain. The views from there are pleasant as well, one can look far out over the grassland and the mountain side has its own beauty."

Seven considered what I had said and nodded, "The attractiveness of the view is irrelevant to me but your other points are well reasoned. Repairs to the maneuvering thrusters would make it possible to move the shuttle to the site, greatly facilitating the fabrication of a permanent abode there."

I was slightly dismayed that she would not appreciate the view but otherwise pleased that she agreed with my reasoning for moving there from this site. I yawned and looked at her in embarrassed surprise.

Seven's lips curled upward in a smile and I felt a wave of agreement from her, "It has been a long day, I am also fatigued." She sighed lightly, "Even though I find the view irrelevant I know that it is not to you, from your thoughts I will no doubt find it aesthetically pleasing to look out over the grasslands and at the mountains."

The next two days were spent almost exclusively in repairing the systems of the shuttle that would be needed to move it the distance from here to where we planned on building our den. The morning after our decision after we had bathed at the stream we crossed to the other side and went up the hill to examine it in person, Seven looked around the spot I had thought of and declared it very suitable. And though she had declared the views to be irrelevant, I thought I detected a sense of pleasure from her as she looked around the area.

The morning of the day we were to move the shuttle it occurred to me to wonder how much grooming we both needed to maintain our health. We had been mating every morning but I no longer groomed her as I had the first few days. Seven looked at me curiously catching that I was wondering about something but not exactly what. When I explained it to her she paused to run the tricorder over us both.

There was surprised surge of emotion from her, "You are still producing the substance but the chemical dependencies which necessitated grooming are no longer present."

I was picking up much more extreme and fluctuating emotions from her than this would seem to warrant, and I moved over to place an arm about her shoulders and rumble at her questioningly.

"Perhaps it was superseded by development of the telepathic bond," Seven stated and then paused. "The tricorder picked up three embryos in my uterus, I am pregnant."

She seemed stunned and I had to dampen down a wild surge of elation and joy for I knew from her feelings that she was far from pleased at this. In fact I would guess the predominant emotion coming from her was… fear. I gently pulled her around until she was facing me and lifted her face to mine. "I love you, I am your mate. You will not be bearing and raising our children alone, you have me to help you, you have Softfur and Scarface who have six children of their own to teach you and answer your questions."

Seven appeared slightly reassured by this and I let go of the control over my emotions I had been keeping and let her feel the joy and elation I felt at knowing we were to have children. "I look forward to curling up with you and our children, to helping you nurse them".

"You will lactate as well?" asked Seven with clear surprise.

I tilted my head at her, "Of course, both Rana parents nurse their children. Rana children grow fast and need more nourishment than one parent could possibly provide alone. When you are near birth I will develop milk to help you with providing food for them."

For some reason I could not understand this seemed to reassure her more than all my previous statements and she finally leaned into my arms and rested her head against my chest. "How fast do Rana children develop?"

"By thirteen full turns of the seasons we are considered adults and ready to begin rann of our own, though most of us do not until we are twenty to thirty full turns of the seasons," I answered her. "I myself will be twenty six full turns… years old this season."

"Do Rana always give birth to triplets?" Seven asked.

"Usually yes," I answered. "Our young are born small," I spaced out my hands indicating a small bundle less than a foot tall, "and then grow very quickly after birth."

Seven nodded looking reassured and I gathered from her thoughts that she had started to be worried about the physical process of giving birth to three children.

"Do you know what the average gestation period is?" asked Seven as she ran the tricorder more closely over herself.

I looked at her somewhat blankly not understanding her words but then caught the impression from her thoughts of what she meant. "I am not certain as I never asked Softfur, but this last time it was only four months from when it became apparent she was pregnant to when my sisters were born."

Seven examined the data and looked thoughtful, "If the rate of development continues then the gestational period would appear to be around 180 days." Seven looked seriously at me, "It is important that we complete our shelter before…" Seven took in a breath and looked lost for a moment before composing herself, "our children are born."

Seven threw herself into preparing the shuttle after that and I understood that she needed time to accept that she was to be a mother. I was feeling the occasional wave of inadequacy myself at the thought of being so completely responsible for three beings until they sought to make rann of their own. I knew she was feeling more out of depth than I was and working on the shuttle was her way of distracting herself from dwelling on the situation.

After all that had come before, the actual shuttle move was anti-climatic, I found it exciting and Seven even relaxed enough to smile at my obvious enjoyment of my first flight.

Seven carefully maneuvered the shuttle among the trees and set it down close to the area we had selected for our settlement. Opening the shuttle door we stepped out and Seven began to survey the area with her tricorder. I picked up a sense of surprise from her as she turned toward the mountain range and frowned slightly. "There are kelbonite deposits present in that direction, it is interfering with my tricorder readings when I try to scan toward the mountain range. Perhaps in the future we may wish to make use of them if we desire to shield our technology from sensor scans of the planet."

I caught in her mind that she was thinking of the Borg and other not so friendly alien races that might visit or raid once the temporal storm cleared. I had no idea how likely this was but I certainly understood her caution.

Seven knelt and scanned one of the outcroppings of rock, "I suspect the mountain range is rich in several types of metallic deposits, I am picking up traces of tanium alloy, garnesite and mizainite ore. This area appears to be unusually rich in metallic elements it will make building a shelter much easier as we can use local materials as stock for the replicator once it is built."

The initial plans she had for a building I found… well ugly, they were functional but did not blend into the landscape. I would have acquiesced to the design none the less but Seven stared into my face and I know she felt my dismay at the thought of building that here, even though I tried to hide it because I did not want to hurt her.

"Voyager visited several different worlds in the past two years, perhaps a building style from one of those planets would be more pleasing," Seven hesitated and I could sense her thinking hard then her mood lightened from where it had fallen at my reaction to her design. "If I build the replicator first I can replicate materials that are more suited to building a shelter than the shuttle hull. It is not necessary to use duranium or tritanium as building materials for a shelter, the material density is not needed. I know of several materials whose properties are much more suitable. If we use the duranium and tritanium in the hull as stocks for the replicator I can produce three to four times the footage area than they would have provided, as well as making use of the local metallic ores."

"Seven?" I sent a questioning thought to her wordlessly asking whether she was still hurt over my initial reaction. I was definitely feeling like a bad mate for having had it in the first place and hurting her and was more than willing to go with her initial design if she wanted to.

"You strongly dislike the design yet you are willing to proceed because you do not want to hurt my emotions," Seven walked up to me and placed a hand on my chest and stared up at me with a soft look in her eyes. "If we built my initial design you would feel dismay whenever you looked upon it because it was not harmonious with the surroundings. Why would I want to build something that you will dislike? This will be our… and our children's home. We will reach a compromise that will satisfy both our needs." Seven smirked slightly, "By using other building materials we can build a more extensive building than what would be possible using the hull in its current form, and one that is more technologically complete."

I wasn't certain what she meant by the last and I had the feeling that she was not either, but I got the definite feeling she was currently thinking about what things she would like to have available in our home.

A thoughtful look passed over Seven's face and she turned to me, "When I first came aboard Voyager I was curious about Earth, specifically the region my parents came from. Several of the pictures I looked at were of 'Nordic' design, perhaps something of this design would suit. Lt. Paris also let me explore his Swiss Chalet program, the chalet was similar in design and I believe you would find the use of wood floors and exposed wood beams in the ceiling pleasing."

I closed my eyes better to concentrate on what Seven was thinking about and I felt a moment of confusion from her then she realized what I was attempting and I felt her focus intently on picturing in her mind the images she had seen. The cross shaped house was built of wood and stone, blending into the land around it. Its steeply pitched roof gave each wing of the building a triangular look from the end and made extensive use of a transparent material, allowing one to see inside the house and anyone inside to see out. A wide deck skirted the building narrowing in between the wings and widening into a larger area in front of each end.

Next Seven began imagining the inside of the house, wooden floors, wood and stone walls, the ceilings followed the pitch of the roof and soared high above the floor giving space to the room. I could see she was thinking that the longest wing would face out looking over the stream and would be where the food preparation and general living area would be, the transparent material, or windows I realized they were called would give an excellent view of the landscape from inside the house. The remaining wings would be our personal living area looking out to the mountains, an area for the children and a general use area.

Not surprisingly that was the design we agreed upon, I liked the way the materials blended into their surroundings and I believe Seven was pleased to use a design from her human heritage. We both agreed that the house should face the stream as she had first thought and look downhill. That end of the house would take the place of the area in front of a den, an area where the family would eat and do tasks together. Seven used Voyager as a guide for what areas of the house we needed; the main area would be functionally similar to the mess hall and the briefing room. We would need areas to serve as quarters and she began making plans for building indoor bathing and personal waste disposal, or toilets as she called them.

Chapter 8

The first few days were spent tearing apart the systems of the shuttle and building what I thought was a rather large temporary shelter for the replicator. Seven catching my curiosity explained that the replicator she was able to build from the shuttle parts would not be a very good one but it would hopefully be accurate enough to replicate the parts for an actual replicator.

We had to move conduits and close up access panels to sleep every night but eventually after a few days the first replicator was finished. Seven spent a further week designing and replicating the parts for what she called an industrial sized replicator on the opposite wall. Building one this large Seven informed me would allow us to build in a modular form producing large sections that would only need to be joined together.

Seven had worked extensively on the design of the house eventually coming up with one that she felt was efficient and one that I felt was comfortable. Seven had noted that I had little use for chairs and would almost always sit on the floor instead of in a chair but benches or raised flat areas were more acceptable seating areas than the floor. Using this she designed the main area of the house around multiple levels that would provide cushioned places to sit or lie upon and flat areas to work upon.

She also placed the kitchen along the interior corner of the main room so that when either of us prepared food we were able to look out over the main area and out the windows. The back of the house was where our quarters were located, and initially where our children would sleep. Doors led to large rooms to the left and right of the main living area, one would be the children's room and the other would be a general purpose area with a medical, engineering and scientific stations. The children's room was entirely open except for a large bathing area in the back corner, their view would be of the forest.

Keeping with the multilevel idea in our quarters Seven designed a low bed that was built up around the edges and then formed a large depressed circular area for sleeping. She also designed several of these in multiple sized for the children to sleep in that could easily be made larger as they grew.

For power Seven built a solar power collector, she seemed very proud of the design as when it was completed it extended itself upward and deployed transparent collectors just above the tree canopy. There were three of these and she took care to place them in the exterior corners of our home so they would not obstruct the view we had of the mountains, forest or stream.

It took us four months of hard work, and several helpful visits by Scarface, Softfur and the entire rann who assisted us with intent curiosity to move and place the support beams for the house and then the wood and rock textured floors and walls. They all commented on how much simpler finding a cavern would be rather than building an above ground one but I noticed them looking appreciatively at the wood and rock exterior more than once.

It was during this time that Seven shared with me her experiences on Voyager, she had seen and experienced a lot during her two years aboard Voyager. She told me about the dance she had went to with the Doctor and then finding out it was the result of a bet between him and Lt. Paris. She had given up on the idea of finding a mate aboard Voyager after the experience, hurt and disillusioned that the Doctor had let himself be involved with such a bet.

We shared a moment of wry amusement that she had been correct since she was obviously meant to be my mate and I had indeed not been on Voyager. I asked her about this Lt. Paris and she related how she had observed him and Lt. Torres's relationship, how Lt. Torres had as usual raged and made threats when she had realized Seven was observing them. That was the incident that had lead to Captain Janeway suggesting Seven ought to find out about romance for herself and led to two disastrous dates. The first with Lt. Chapman whose shoulder she had dislocated while dancing and the second date with the Doctor.

I sensed that she had never had a good relationship with Lt. Torres, Seven found her habit of shouting and reacting with anger to anything that upset her to be annoying. Seven respected the woman's intelligence but was disdainful of how she conducted herself, an attitude that just aggravated the situation between them.

Experiencing Seven's memories with her I could clearly see how Seven's attitude exacerbated the situation and Seven readily admitted her part in maintaining the antagonism. I also understood why Seven had the feelings toward Lt. Torres that she did, Lt. Torres yelled at her, called her names and frequently threatened to strike her, all in all an amazing display of temper that I found as distasteful as had Seven. Seven just had not seen a reason to hide her opinion of the engineer's actions.

Seven did finally tell me with a sense of both embarrassed shame and angry glee that she had known perfectly well that the comment she had made in the mess hall about everyone knowing when Lt. Torres and Lt. Paris were being intimate would cause the volatile woman to threaten her. By that point she had almost wished that Lt. Torres had tried to strike her so she would have the excuse to strike the woman back.

I was surprised at the amount of anger in Seven, it was unlike her usual calmness. Eventually Seven admitted that Lt. Torres had come to represent in Seven's view everyone aboard the ship who blamed her for what she had done as a Borg. For not adapting to Voyager's crew in the manner they thought she should. Seven believed some of Voyagers clan though she should be more like Neelix, obviously grateful for the opportunity to be aboard Voyager and willing to do anything to be allowed to stay.

Neelix however, hadn't been forcibly taken away from everything he knew and required to adapt to Voyager's crew, he had chosen to adapt. An essential difference that Seven refused to forget. Even though she did not want to go back to the Borg part of her could not forgive how Captain Janeway had refused to let Seven have a choice, not unlike how the Borg had.

Eventually Seven admitted grudgingly that she had contributed to the situation as much as Lt. Torres. She also admitted that with the replicator finished she was optimistic that we could care for her implants and she was now somewhat relieved at the thought of being away from the ship for awhile. As she pulled me closer I realized how different her reception by my rann had been from how the Voyager clan treated her, and how much she valued being apart of my family.

Tentatively I pointed out that she could say that she had not been given a choice about becoming my mate.

"Neither were you, and we would not have mated that first time if I had not desired it. Your biology ensured that you would be an acceptable mate, and that you wanted to be my mate, but I was the one who decided to accept," Seven assured me just before clearly showing me how much she enjoyed being my mate. I was more than willing to let her and when afterward we rested in each others arms she looked into my eyes and said, "I love you." I had felt her love ever since the bond formed but this was the first time she had said it aloud.

We still had most of the engineering to finish in the kitchen area and the children's bathing room when we finished dismantling the remainder of the shuttle. We had been sleeping inside for the past month in the unfinished main room as the shuttle was uninhabitable. We had already connected the solar collectors to the main power grid of the house and moved the shuttle computer into the house to control its systems so the house had cooling and heating. Another two weeks worth of work and those were completed as well and none too soon for Seven was five months pregnant and was finding it very difficult to maneuver herself about so she could work on the final projects.

Tonight though, was the first night that we prepared a meal together in our own kitchen in our completed home. I found myself looking out over the counters into the living room and appreciating the look of the walls that were stone along the lower three feet and warm honey brown wood above that. The windowed far wall looked out over the wide deck to the stream down the hill and the gently rolling grasslands beyond. The cathedral ceiling gave the room a height of twenty feet at its peak and lighting around the sides indirectly lit the room in a warm glow.

I could feel Seven's amusement as she had to nudge me to get my attention so I would not burn the kaltan nuts I was roasting to go along with samara steaks. "Our home is beautiful," I told her.

I sensed her agreement before she said, "Yes it is, I am glad that we did not go with my original design idea. It was efficient but I do not think I would feel the same way about living in it as I do about living here." Her mood was light and peaceful tonight and I knew she was looking at our home with the same sense of satisfaction and pride that I was.

"I completed replicating the parts for the medical scanner today. The foetus's appear to be developing normally I can detect no physical problems with any of them. They are healthy and should be fully developed in a month," Seven informed me. I had sensed her relief earlier in the day and guessed that she had confirmed for herself that her children were fine and there were no difficulties with her pregnancy.

"Has Softfur answered your questions?" I asked her referring to all the concerns she had about how to raise children.

"Yes," replied Seven though I could still sense her uncertainty. "Softfur tells me that the child bond will help me know what they need." Seven frowned slightly and I could feel her aggravation, "She told me that my concern showed that I would be a good parent, but I do not understand why my doubts would not indicate the opposite."

"Seven I remember once feeling that Scarface loved Swiftfoot more than she loved me because I did not share her interest in the techniques of the hunt. Scarface felt my self doubt and took me for a trip in which we explored everything that caught my interest. Scarface asked me to show her my inquisitiveness about the world so she could share it. During the trip she apologized to me for doing anything that would make me think she loved me any less than Swiftfoot or Blackfur and with the bond I knew she meant it."

I turned to fully face Seven who was listening to me intently, "We will make mistakes, but with the child bond we will know when a mistake has been made, the children will let us know by their emotions. Are you saying you would not do what it takes to make sure one of your children knows you love them as much as the others? Even if their interests lie in a different direction than yours?" Concerns about how to teach our children and fears that she was not capable of loving them seemed to dominate Seven's fears.

Seven looked thoughtful and absently rested her hand over her the swell of her abdomen, "I will do as Scarface and ask them to teach me, perhaps with their help I will be able to understand some of the things Captain Janeway tried to teach me. I …" she paused and a look of wonder passed over her face.

Catching her thought I laid a hand against her as well and felt the ripple as one of our children moved within. I felt a surge from Seven of joy and love that matched mine, "You will be a good mother," I assured her.

I felt a need for reassurance from her and I moved our dinner from the heating surface and turned and embraced her. Seven nodded against my chest and I felt a sense of peace finally about her with the pregnancy and a dawning sense of anticipation for the arrival of our children.

Chapter 9

Two weeks later Seven woke me in the middle of the night, "Seeker," she called my name and shook me by the shoulder urgently.

"What?" I asked both verbally and mentally looking around.

"Our children… feel," Seven told me and now that my head had cleared I could feel an overwhelming sense of awe and love almost radiating from her. I stilled as I felt something new in my mind and closed my eyes to better focus on it, there was a sense of being enclosed tightly in a warm place and a vague sense of self awareness and I realized I was feeling one of my children. As soon as I realized that I focused on feeling the other two and realized they were there as well it was only that their thoughts were so unfocused and alike.

"The child bond," I stated huskily over my emotions. Seven shifted to her side, allowing me to cuddle with her as I wanted. Both of us put protective arms over our children and I savored the moment, "I love you," I told Seven breathing in the fragrance of her.

I could feel her smiling and her hand entwined with mine over her stomach, "And I love you."

When Seven's labor began Blackfur who had been staying with us went and got Softfur and Scarface to assist us. Seven and I found ourselves busy reassuring our children that everything was alright through the physical process of birth and that we were eager for them to leave the womb and be with us. As her labor progressed Seven was less able to reassure each child and it was left more up to me to divide my attention between helping Seven with shielding the children from her pain and reassuring them.

Seven's labor lasted four hours, with the first child born two hours into labor, the next forty minutes after and the last fifty minutes later, thirty minutes later the afterbirth came. As each was born into my hands I greeted them warmly and made sure they recognized my scent, then I laid them for a few moments on Seven's chest and let her hold them. It did not take but a moment for each child to recognize her scent as the one who had held them inside her.

I knew I would never forget the moment each of them came into the world and I saw them for the first time, the out flowing of unconditional love I felt for each, the welling of emotion as I placed them in Seven's arms for the first time and saw her smile in pure joy were images that I knew would be etched forever in my memory.

Now Softfur helped Seven clean herself while I stayed with our newborn children. When Seven came back shortly she joined us in the bed and quickly fell asleep as I watched over them all. When she awoke next Seven scanned the children anxiously to make sure there were no nanoprobes present in their systems and then scanned a sample of her breast milk for the same. To her relief both the children and her milk were completely free of nanoprobes.

In the weeks following Seven learned why both parents were needed to feed the children, within a week they had gone from weighing a mere three pounds to five pounds and in two weeks they were nine pounds. I blessed the fact that we had a freeze unit as it had allowed me to build up a stock of meat without having to dry it. That along with the replicator meant we had a much easier time of it than other Rana couples who had to hunt and gather while taking care of their infants.

As was custom in Rana rann we did not name our children until their distinct personalities made clear what name was best suited for them. The eldest child was fair with skin and body fur only slightly darker than Seven's and the same golden hair. Very light chestnut points marked her ears and the fur on the back of her hands, lower arms, feet and calves. She had an inquisitive nature gentle nature and it was not long before Seven feeling both sorrow and hope named her Erin after her mother.

The middle child took after me with brown fur and hair and chestnut stripes, she was inquisitive as well but there was a more introspective side to her. She was the one drawn to color and sound, and was entranced when Seven would hum a tune. Melody seemed the obvious choice for her name after she made her interests known to us.

The third child took directly after Seven in the inquisitive nature of her mind, she was the one that was always trying to crawl and open things to see what was inside. And her sense of curiosity about how things worked was evident from an early age. It was Softfur who finally named her Finder, for she predicted the child would never cease with her questioning until she had found the answer and the name stuck. Finder's colors were a combination of both mine and Seven's coloration, her skin and hair was tan colored like mine, the hair on her head was gold like Seven's yet she had chestnut stripes.

During the first six months of our children's lives Seven and I spent the time working on various projects and designing toys and teaching tools. Seven had researched child development and teaching methods when she had begun interacting with the one child on Voyager, Naomi Wildman, on a regular basis. Now I was very thankful that Seven had for it gave her the confidence to draft out a schedule of training that she hoped was developmentally appropriate.

The second project Seven worked upon was completing the decryption of the data cube we found. It took her several more weeks of work, fitting it in while the children were sleeping but she finally pulled all the remaining data from the cube. What she found was surprising, and it held at tantalizing clue.

Earlier researchers had suspected the Rana formed telepathic connections with each other from their brain physiology but were confused because the organs were not active in all Rana. Their young were born with active telepathic organs but after a certain age they became inactive and then only became active again once the adult Rana had chosen a mate.

Katara using an advanced molecular level scanner had found the chemical triggers that turned off and back on the telepathic ability. In the young Rana it was triggered when they reached a certain stage of development and the bond existed with the parents. In the adult Rana it was triggered on when the Rana met their mate.

Katara was also able to determine how the Rana choose their mates. The Rana, even then were a chemical marvel and had developed the ability to break down and analyze the DNA structure of most beings they came into contact with. If they did not immediately decide the being was either a) prey or b) not sexually mature, then they evaluated the DNA to determine if a suitable mate had been found.

All this took place automatically, without any conscious decision, and did it did not matter if the other were Rana or not. If a DNA match was found then the Rana would simply change to become compatible with their new mate. As their ability to change form was only a few steps removed from true shape shifting species, this was fairly easy for the Rana to accomplish. The final step was to modify the mate if non-Rana so that they developed a telepathic organ.

This then was how the remarkable evolutionary leap had been accomplished; several Rana had mated with a larger and more intelligent, wolf like animal on their planet. From there their children and grandchildren had quickly disseminated the preferred genetics to the rest of the population.

Katara had used this ability of the Rana to mate them with successive different species to build the Rana that was present today. Because Katara had found there were limits to how much the Rana could adapt to a non-Rana species, each cross had been carefully planned out to advance the Rana toward Katara's final goal as much as possible.

She had first mated the Rana with a social hunting cat species to increase Rana size as we weighed only 40 lbs at that time and to increase our visual acuity. Then she hybridized us with another wolf like species noted for its longevity and intelligence. The next to last cross had been with a gorilla like species, once again for size, longevity, and intelligence. The last cross was with a primitive humanoid species chosen by Katara for their physical size, intelligence, and longevity.

As she had hoped the last cross gave us true intelligence but it did not give us speech, our throats still could not form words. Katara had debated bringing one of the more advanced races here in the hope that another mating would make it possible for us to talk but had finally decided against it. She knew that we could now mate with most of the known humanoid species and hoped that a chance encounter or evolution would accomplish her final goal for us, a high level of intelligence and the ability to speak.

The scanner she used was able to directly manipulate the subject's genetic code and she worked extensively to make sure that the genetic code related to the development of the telepathic abilities were overwhelmingly dominant and perfected the method by which the Rana choose their mates, both among Rana and non-Rana.

Seven quietly read from the padd she had transcribed of the text, "I have lost my own mate to another younger woman. My children have scattered and are involved with their own lives and truthfully I gave them less time than I should have when they were younger. The Rana though are blessed with their families, the telepathic bonds that bind them create a closeness I have seen in no other species whether intelligent or no. That trait above all I will ensure that the Rana keep, no matter what new races they choose to hybridize with I will ensure that they will always keep their wonderfully strong family structure."

"At the end of the data cube I found this last information," Seven said to me after I had quietly absorbed what she had said.

"I have decided to remain the rest of my days with my Rana, I have taught them all that they are capable of learning and now all there is to do is to withdraw and watch them develop. I had thought to dismantle all my equipment and leave this planet to them, but now I cannot bear to. Instead I have destroyed all my secondary observation labs and have put safeguards and forcefields around my main laboratory.

Some day, maybe several hundred years from now they will discover my laboratory and their heritage. I hope they are pleased with what I did instead of angry with me for engineering them. And I hope they like the gift I left for them, their last and greatest gift from me. It is all safe and hidden from any species which might threaten my Rana if they knew such technology was present.

Now I must go for my morning survey to see how my children and latest experiments are doing. The newest strain of kaltan grass I created should be ripe today and I can judge whether or not the changes I made were successful. I managed to decrease the germination time so there would be two harvests per year, now I am working on increasing the size of the seed by 200. I hope I have succeeded for I know that the end of my time is coming soon, I have kept myself as healthy as possible for as long as possible, but one can only hold time back for so long and today I feel all of my four hundred and sixty-six years."

"The rest is fragmented, from the coordinates the strain of kaltan grass she mentioned was planted near the destroyed research station where we found the data cube. She notes that the experiment was a success and then there is no more data," Seven finished.

"She died there," I said with a sense of sorrow.

"That is a reasonable assumption to make," answered Seven as she came over and leaned against my back and wrapped her arms around my chest in a hug. "You are not angry with her for the changes she made to the Rana."

It was a statement and not a question as Seven knew my feelings. "She made us more than animals, and made it possible for you to be my mate." I rested my head back against her and closed my eyes feeling contented with my life and felt her kiss the tip of one ear. "You realize that we are the chance encounter she hoped for?"

"Yes," answered Seven quietly. "Our children fulfill her goal for the Rana."

"Do you mind?" I asked curiously, for she was in a thoughtful mood.

"No," Seven answered, "I am content with what has occurred and with my life now." Seven paused then continued and I could feel a quiet happiness radiate from her, "I am happier now than I can ever remember being."

Her happiness changed to keen anticipation and Seven looked up at me intently, "Katara mentioned at one point in her narrative that she needed to replicate a few more coils before she could travel to obtain the hunting cats she needed. Given the distance she mentions traveling and that her journey was completed within a month I believe the coil mentioned was a transwarp coil, the same technology the Borg use."

"Her gift to us?" I asked with wide eyes.

"I believe it to be the technology to create transwarp coils and her ship, perhaps also her medical equipment," answered Seven, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

I sensed that she was thinking of showing the children and I some of the more interesting things she had seen since her separation from the Collective, "We will have to go looking for her laboratory when the children are older, then you can take us and show us these things." I paused for a moment, "Perhaps we can take the children to visit Earth as well and see if you have any surviving rann there."

She had known of course that I was thinking of something I wasn't certain she would be comfortable with, but I sensed my words surprised her. I could sense and see her thinking about what I had said and then her tentative agreement as she rested her head against me once more.

I smiled pleased that my suggestion had not upset her and then opened my eyes when I felt the awakening minds of my children. "Hmm what is on the agenda for today?"

"Shapes, sounds, colors, and motor skills," answered Seven straightening.

I felt her wince and realized her shoulder was bothering her again, "Joint out of alignment again?" I asked surprised as it was the second time this month.

"I believe so," answered Seven a bit coolly.

We went into the general purpose room, now dubbed the lab, and I re-aligned the joint in her Borg arm. "Is there something wrong with this arm that it comes out of alignment so frequently?" I asked worried.

"Not that I can determine, it just needs frequent maintenance," Seven answered.

There was a testy undercurrent to her tone and I knew she didn't want to discuss the fact that her Borg enhancements seemed to require quite a lot of maintenance. More than one would think given the level of Borg technology, unless of course they were designed that way. That was the subject Seven was still avoiding discussing, as she did not yet want to admit that the Borg seemed to have built limitations into their drones in order to make it more difficult for them to survive outside the collective.

I nodded and left the subject alone, I knew she was not ready to address the issue and felt there was nothing she could do about the situation anyway. Which I had to admit was true, the Doctor aboard Voyager had said the Borg parts were better than anything he could create, and we did not have the same level of equipment here that he had available to him aboard Voyager.

And in any case the children were wakening and it was time for their midday meal. They had all gotten in their first two teeth by this time and we had quit breastfeeding them a few weeks ago and moved them over to what Seven termed soft solid foods. Rana children would be eating mashed kaltan seed and finely cut cooked meat, our children due to the replicator had a much larger variety of food to eat.

They were also starting to experiment with making sounds, attempting to imitate Seven and I. Seven decided that our names were too alike for the children to manage at this stage of their development and chose to teach them to call her Mommy. She insisted that logic drove her choice and I chose to not argue with her but I knew it was more of an emotional choice for her than she wanted to admit, that was the name she had called her own mother.

We had during Seven's pregnancy discussed her own parents and the choices they had made extensively. Seven had moved from resentment, anger and sorrow to mostly sorrow and regret. By the time the children were born she understood why her parents had taken her with them and had mostly forgiven them for underestimating the threat the Borg presented to them. Now when she though of them, it was with a sharp regret that they would never see their grandchildren, never play with them as Scarface and Softfur could.

"I will replicate their food and set it out," I said feeling the unmistakable alertness and hunger of three fully awake children and hoping to escape the necessity of changing their diapers.

"You will come and assist me with change their diapers," answered Seven with an amused look at my weak attempt.

I sighed and resigned myself to having my nose assaulted by the amazingly odiferous waste products of my offspring.

Chapter 10

When Softfur and Scarface visited the next day with my five sisters, Seven and I told them about the information we had found on the data cube. They were pleased to find out that the tales of the non-Rana female were true and were moved by the evidence that she had valued the bonds we formed with each other enough to ensure that they would develop in all Rana children.

We were all sitting on the floor discussing the matter and Seven, Softfur and I were busy feeding Erin, Melody and Finder. Seven was feeding Melody who as usual was having as much fun painting Seven's shirt with different colored food as she was eating it. Seven had gotten used to tying her hair back and wearing a white shirt when feeding Melody and simply replicated twice the amount of food for her so she could 'paint' Mommy.

Melody, Erin and Finder had a choice of green colored 'bean' flavored vegetables, orange 'squash' flavored vegetables, pale yellow kaltan seed mash, bright red mixed fruit and brown meat puree today. Softfur and I had almost finished feeding Erin and Finder and Melody had a nice composition of red, orange and yellow colors going on Seven's shirt. She was eating the green colored beans and brown meat but Seven and I knew though the bond that she didn't think their colors went along with the colors she was smearing on Seven's shirt.

We all looked toward the porch when we heard an unfamiliar sound, except that I quickly realized the sound was familiar to Seven as we watched three blue shimmers in the air form into three humans.

'Seven's clan' I signed to my sisters and parents as I looked out the door and recognized Captain Janeway, Tuvok, and Chakotay from Seven's memories. Between the stunned looks on my parents' and sisters' faces and the looks on their faces as they realized Seven was busy feeding a child that clearly resembled her I rapidly became amused at the whole scene.

Scarface signed 'they have an odd way of traveling,' when she had gotten over the surprise of their appearance.

Blackfur knowing that Seven and I had our hands full with our children courteously got up and went and opened the door for Seven's clan, rumbling a greeting to them as she did so.

To their credit the males hands only twitched toward their phasers before halting their movements at the Captain's raised hand and verbal command of "It's alright, that sounded friendly," but even she looked a bit wide eyed as she looked up at the upright Rana woman who held the door open for her.

"Captain, Commander Chakotay, Lt. Commander Tuvok, please come in," said Seven quietly though I could clearly feel her tension through the bond. "Blackfur greeted you in her language."

"Ma," said Melody fretfully reacting to Seven's tension.

Seven returned her attention to our daughter, "Shhh, Mommy's fine, just surprised." I could feel Seven send reassurance to the children through her bond and reinforced it with my own. As I did so I noticed the stunned expression on Captain Janeway's face at Seven's statement as she silently mouthed what looked like 'mommy?'

"Take Melody while I change," said Seven to me as she picked up Melody, being careful not to get the food on her blouse on the child. I accepted her and Seven turned toward the three who had not moved since they entered the door, "I need to change my blouse, I will return shortly." With that Seven turned quickly and headed back toward our room, leaving me with our unexpected guests.

Captain Janeway had responded with a nod to Seven after looking at the swirl of food on her blouse, she seemed to be recovering quicker than the other two, one of which, the Vulcan had remained impassive after a raised eyebrow at Melody's statement and the other male looked to still be recovering from his shock..

"I am Seeker, Seven's mate," I said from my seat, gaining all three's immediate attention. I could see Captain Janeway's eyes flicker quickly from me to the others, undoubtedly noting the differences between them and me. "These are my parents, Scarface and Softfur, and my sisters Blackfur, Swiftfoot, Treeclimber, Leap and Watcher," I said pointing to each with difficulty while holding Melody and Erin.

"This is our daughter Melody and this is Erin, and that's Finder," I completed the introductions to them. Captain Janeway looked as if she would speak but then stopped as Seven came back in then wearing a freshly replicated shirt. The two men had finally moved from where they were standing on the porch and followed Janeway into the house. She stopped and retrieved Finder from mother on the way and thanked her for helping us feed her.

Seven sat down close beside me with Finder in her arms and Melody struggled slightly wanting to be close to her. I moved her until she was resting between us and watched as she laid her head on Seven's chest and looked at the newcomers doubtfully. Erin seemed fine where she was, content that Mommy was close by.

"Please sit down," Seven said indicating some cushion space that was currently unoccupied. Then, "Would you like anything to drink or eat?" Seven recalling proper manners for visitors, I was thankful that she had for I had forgotten my duties as well in my surprise.

After a moment of what looked like surprise Captain Janeway responded, "Water would be nice." The two men agreed that water would suit them as well.

Blackfur recognizing the word indicated to Seven that she would be pleased to go get the requested drinks and with a smile of thanks Seven let her.

The Captain had an inquiring look on her face as she sat down and Seven responded to it, "Blackfur is going to get your drinks as I would disturb the children if I moved."

The Captain's face softened as she looked at the children curled up on us and she asked I a low gentle voice, "How old are they?"

"Six months 7 days 9 hours," answered Seven.

The Captain drew in a breath and nodded, "We detected traces of a temporal anomaly but we had no idea what the time differential would be."

Seven nodded, "It has been a year one month and six days since the shuttle crashed on this planet, Captain." Seven paused, "I hope you do not mind that I dismantled it to build a permanent shelter."

"No, not at all," the Captain responded.

"It's a very beautiful house," Chakotay spoke up for the first time glancing around as he did so. "The shuttle core signature was what let us know you were still alive."

Seven nodded.

The Captain asked hesitantly, "Seven, what happened to Ensign Yates?"

"He is dead," said Seven hesitantly.

"Captain," I took over, "I must seek your forgiveness for my, Blackfur, and Swiftfoot's part in his death." I kept up a running translation in Rana at this and Scarface interrupted for a moment, "Scarface wishes your forgiveness as well for we had no idea he would react to us the way he did."

"Ensign Yates reacted inappropriately in a first contact situation, drawing a weapon without provocation," Seven sprang to our defense. "Unfortunately I was unconscious at the time and could not prevent his actions."

Blackfur came in at that moment walking awkwardly on two legs while holding three glasses and gave them to our guests then sat down with a sigh looking around curiously. I quickly caught her up on the situation and her ears flattened and a sad look crossed her face.

Captain Janeway who had been looking back and forth focused on Blackfur's face for a moment, "Just start at the beginning and tell me what happened," she said to me.

I described the events of the day and when I finished Captain Janeway looked saddened as well, "That's not how we are supposed to handle first contacts, you don't fire on someone just because they approach you." She paused and looked around at us, "It sounds like an accident."

"Then you forgive us?" I asked her.

"There isn't anything to forgive," she told me.

I remained silent holding her gaze and she finally said, "I forgive you for any part you had in Ensign Yates death."

I translated it and Scarface, Blackfur and Swiftfoot tumbled their thanks to her.

"They are telling you thank you," I translated for them.

Noting that the children were sound asleep I brought Seven's attention to the fact that we needed to put them down for their afternoon nap.

"We must put the children in their sleep area," Seven informed Captain Janeway.

"Of course," Janeway responded with a smile, then "Here let me help you with one of them, three must keep you busy." She glanced around noting undoubtedly the groupings of three siblings, "It's normal to have triplets?"

"Yes, Captain," Seven said after a moment's hesitation and then, "If you will bend down a moment Captain, if she is to stay asleep you must smell like Seeker and I."

A look of surprise crossed Janeway's face and then she nodded and held still while Seven and I brushed our hands over her shoulders. When we were done Seven handed Erin to her and the three of us proceeded back to the children's room.

As we laid them down in their bed Janeway looked around the room, "How lovely," she commented. Then she looked down at the children's bed which rested on the floor, "I guess you don't have to worry about them climbing out of their cribs and falling."

"No we don't," I answered.

"Did you put in motion sensor technology so you know when they wake up?" the Captain asked curiously looking around at the walls.

"We can feel when they awaken," I answered.

I could see the question in her eyes but Seven answered before I could, "We have a telepathic link with our children, and with each other." The Captain's eyes flitted back and forth between Seven and I and Seven continued with a serious look, "There is much that I need to tell you Captain, about the Rana."

The Captain's eyes seemed to search Seven's for a moment then she nodded and her face was set in a serious expression.

When we returned to the living room Chakotay turned from where he had been talking with Tuvok, "I believe we're going to have to learn their language the old fashioned way, the universal translators don't work well with a spoken and signed language."

Captain Janeway nodded and sat back down waiting on Seven and I before speaking again, "You were saying you have a telepathic connection with both Seeker and your children, Seven."

"Yes, Captain Janeway," answered Seven.

"You did not have such an ability before," Tuvok spoke up looking intent.

"No," Seven answered succinctly. She paused, "It is one of the changes that occurred when Seeker recognized me as her mate."

Captain Janeway rocked back a bit and glanced at me and I caught a surprised look on Commander Chakotay's face as well as noting that Lt. Commander Tuvok had raised one eyebrow.

Seven caught it as well and then I understood from her the source of their confusion, they had assumed that I was male as they were only used to species that were male and female.

"Your word for us is hermaphroditic," I said calmly, and catching their complete attention. "We think of each other as being more female than male, no matter which reproductive part one of a mated pair takes."

After a moment Captain Janeway nodded, "Alright," she said to me. Then to Seven, "What changes, Seven."

The resulting discussion took almost an hour, during which Blackfur and Swiftfoot took my younger sisters out to play as they were getting restless and bored with the events. Throughout the entire explanation Captain Janeway looked slightly disturbed, at certain points such as when Seven related that both of us had become incapacitated when I had not groomed her, she looked very concerned.

When we were done Captain Janeway stared at Seven and hesitantly began, "Seven …"

"You are about to ask if this is really what I wanted," Seven stated.

"Well, yes," Captain Janeway admitted.

"I love Seeker and my children, I am happier now than I ever thought I could be Captain," Seven said to her softly.

I could feel Seven trying to reach out to this woman who had freed her and taught her so much about being an individual, hoping that she would understand that Seven was pleased with the direction her life had taken since the shuttle crash.

After a few moments during which they stared at each other, Captain Janeway finally nodded. "I would like for the Doctor to do a full medical check up on you, Seeker and the children, make sure you're all healthy."

Seven raised an eyebrow at Captain Janeway, "And you wish to know more about the Rana and their unique physiology."

Captain Janeway opened her mouth as if to argue then stopped, "Of course I do."

Seven nodded and I knew that she had been hoping the Captain would be truthful, "I would also suggest limiting Voyager's contact with the Rana unless they desire a mate." I glanced amused at Seven knowing that she was now joking in her own way with the Captain.

Captain Janeway looked at Seven sharply and then her lips twitched and she nodded, recognizing the humor.

"There is one other thing, Captain," Seven continued after a brief pause to consult with me about revealing what we suspected. "We believe Katara's main research laboratory still exists and is located within the mountain range to the east of here. I believe her vessel and information about its technology will be found there. Katara frequently traveled 10,000 light years to obtain the species she used for hybridization within a few weeks. In her logs she mentioned once needing to replicate more coils before she could travel. I believe that the laboratory contains a transwarp coil replicator similar to what the Borg use to produce transwarp coils for their ships."

I noticed that Seven had the undivided attention of the three Starfleet officers. Seven continued, "If I am correct then Voyager can use this technology to produce enough transwarp coils to reach the Alpha Quadrant."


	3. Voyager Chapter 1

**A Perfect Mate – Voyager Chapter 1**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.

Warning: None.

Rating: T(13+)

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 03/12/05

* * *

B'Elanna Torres was assisting her friend Harry Kim with running sensor scans for the missing shuttle containing the Borg Seven of Nine and Ensign Yates. What the scans were showing was puzzling and disturbing. They had initially thought that the storm that separated Voyager from the away mission had been a powerful ion storm, dangerous potentially to both ship and shuttle, but not unusual.

Captain Janeway had ordered Voyager to a safe distance and waited for the storm to pass, hoping that the shuttle had found refuge on one of the M class planets nearby. What was unusual about the readings were the faint traces of chronoton particles and variable tachyon field areas the sensors were picking up as they traveled toward the last known location of the missing shuttle.

Harry looked troubled as they examined the readings and finally spoke up, "I think we ought to get the Captain's opinion on this. I've never seen anything quite like these readings but they might indicate some type of temporal activity."

With a deep frown B'Elanna nodded her acquiescence, the readings were unusual and Harry's thought agreed with her own, it was looking more and more like that hadn't been just an ion storm.

Uneasily B'Elanna thought back to the confrontation with Seven over her 'research' in the mess hall almost two weeks ago. After years of thinking of the Borg as unfeeling the flicker of hatred in Seven's eyes had startled her. She had blustered and acted like she was going to punch the arrogant Borg but B'Elanna knew that she had been a lot less angry than she had tried to act. She had been too surprised by the emotions unveiled briefly in the Borg's eyes.

B'Elanna would openly admit to anyone that she disliked the Borg, and she expected that Seven didn't particularly like her either. But that hadn't been dislike in Seven's eyes, and B'Elanna had sensed that Seven was just waiting for her to make the first move so she would have an excuse to strike her back. Raw surprise and a sense of self-preservation had caused her to allow Tom to draw her away from the confrontation.

B'Elanna wasn't quite certain what to do now; she didn't feel like going to the Captain and telling her that her pet Borg looked like she would like to wipe the floor with her Chief Engineer. And the Klingon half of her acknowledged that Seven might just have a few valid reasons to feel that much animosity toward her. Still it was unsettling to have someone look at you like they would very much like to seriously hurt you.

The Captain entered Astrometrics and barked, "Report."

B'Elanna reflexively straightened at the tone as did Harry realizing at that moment how stressed the Captain actually was over the shuttle. 'Oh no way I'm telling her that her pet Borg hates my guts,' thought B'Elanna. "Captain the sensors are picking up chronoton particles and what look like dispersed tachyon fields, Harry and I think it may indicate some type of temporal activity, but neither of us are as versed in temporal physics as you are and we wanted your opinion on it."

Janeway's eyes widened and she crossed the room in quick strides to look at the readouts, her face paled for a brief moment and then her command mask slipped down veiling her reaction to what she was looking at. "You're correct that was more than just an ion storm." Janeway reorganized the data they had collected and looked at it again then stepped back gesturing to then that they should look at the data she had brought up. "I don't think I've ever seen reading like this before but my guess it was some type of temporal storm as well. The chronoton readings and tachyon fields are so variable though that I cannot tell how much time differential might have occurred."

Janeway stood silent for a moment then commanded, "As soon as we get in range of the nearest M class planet start scanning for any signs of the shuttle and Seven's Borg implants."

With that she turned and abruptly left leaving B'Elanna and Harry looking after her in surprise.

"She must be worried about whether Seven could survive any length of time without her alcove," offered Harry after a moment. Then with a worried frown, "I'm worried about whether or not Seven could survive, how long till we are in range of that first planet?"

"One hour." answered B'Elanna absently. She hadn't really though about what the readings might mean for the Borg, combined with the recent past events between them she really didn't know how she felt about the fact that Seven might already be dead by now.

Seven was not dead, the kelbonite deposits in the mountain range to the east of the shuttle computer core were interfering with their sensors but not so much that they couldn't tell that it had been removed from the shuttle and incorporated into a building. They could also pick up traces of Seven's implants and from the fact that during one scan they would be located inside the building and another scan they would be some distance away from the building one could extrapolate that she was still alive.

'Figures' thought B'Elanna as they waited for the visual information from the sensors as Voyager did a low pass over the structure. 'Damn drone's too smart to let a little thing like a missing alcove kill her.' Her mental tone was half admiring, half resentful.

When the pictures came through of what looked remarkably like a Swiss chalet sitting in a clearing B'Elanna looked at Harry and saw that he was looking at the image with surprise obvious on his face. B'Elanna snorted, "Not quite what I expected Seven to build; looks like she's doing just fine down there".

"Yea." he replied still staring at the screen. B'Elanna knew the image was being relayed to the main viewing screen on the bridge and wondered what the Captain was thinking right now.

"That looks a lot like the building I showed Seven from my skiing program." noted Paris to the Captain who was looking in surprise at the main screen.

"Well it looks like Seven not only survived the storm but is doing pretty well for herself." commented Chakotay with a twinkle in his eye to the Captain.

For the first time in a few days Janeway allowed herself to smile back at him before she turned and looked at the screen curiously. It certainly was not the survival shelter she expected Seven to build, and it had a permanence to it that bothered her.

"I wonder how long she's been down there that certainly looks like it took more than a few weeks to build. Are you picking up any life signs?" Janeway asked Astrometrics.

"No Ma'am, the kelbonite deposits are interfering too much with our sensors." came back the voice of Harry Kim.

"Tuvok, any problem with beaming down an away team?" she asked her tactical officer.

"No Captain, the deposits are far enough away to not interfere with the transporter." Tuvok replied.

"Then why don't we see how they are doing," Janeway said as she got up and indicated to Tuvok and Chakotay that they should accompany her. "Lt. Paris you have the bridge," she commented as she moved toward the turbolift.

"Yes, Captain." Paris replied before the doors closed on the three senior officers.

Janeway wasn't certain what to expect when they transported down to the planet but the profusion of large cat like beings residing on the floor of what looked like the central room of the building was definitely not one of the scenarios that had run through her mind.

The first thing she noticed was the one that looked far more humanoid than the others in the room, though it was obvious that he was related to them. The next thing she noticed was the young blonde haired child in his arms he was feeding and she smiled at the scene. Finally her eyes lifted toward the back of the room and she saw the person she had been looking for, but what she saw astonished her. Seven returned her wide eyed stare with a serious look on her face and shifted the child she was feeding; from the look of her clothing she appeared to be wearing most of the child's meal.

One of the cat-like beings, a dark looking male ambled over to the door and stood to an impressive height before opening and emitting a friendly sounding rumble. Hearing movement behind her Janeway hastened to reassure the two men, "It's alright that sounded friendly."

From inside the house Seven's voice invited them inside and named the one who had opened the door Blackfur. It was what the child in Seven's arms calling her "Ma" that truly stunned the Captain and after Seven responded reassuringly to the child Janeway wondered that she had not noticed before that the three very young children in the room were clearly Seven's. Two of them even had hair of the same golden blond.

Janeway's eyes went to the male sitting on the couch as she realized who the father had to be. Janeway had no doubt he would be as tall as Blackfur when he stood, as long a torso and legs as he had, broad of shoulder and obviously well muscled. Traces of a common heritage with the others in the room remained in the cat like ears, the brows that merged with his nose and the slitted topaz colored eyes, as well as the slight signs of fur that remained on his face and shading the bare tan colored arms. His face was almost effeminate, too delicate with its triangular shape and high cheekbones to be termed handsome. Yet he was striking looking, and Janeway's first instinctive reaction to him was that he was attractive.

While Seven went to change her shirt, the male, Seeker as he introduced himself, named the children, one of which Janeway was pleased to note Seven had named after her mother and then surprised them yet again when he introduced the other's in the room as his parents and sisters.

Janeway was taken aback to learn that most of the beings in the room were actually female instead of male, and wondered why Seeker look so different from his parents and siblings. She was trying to determine a way to tactfully ask how this was possible when Seven returned, gathered up the third child and sat down next to Seeker.

After accepting an offer of a drink, which Blackfur got up to retrieve, Janeway regarded the couple on the couch for a moment noticing how Seven leaned unselfconsciously against Seeker as she helped him settle the dozing children. And she realized that Seven's face was more relaxed than she ever remembered seeing it.

Looking at the children Janeway gave into her curiosity and asked how old they were. She was surprised when Seven told her they were only six months old, she had guessed that they were eight or nine months old from their size. Upon Seven's tentative question regarding the shuttle, Janeway hurried to reassure her that she did not mind and heard Chakotay comment on how nice the house that she had built looked.

Janeway had to agree, the house was beautiful, not at all what she had expected to find. It was definitely a home and looking at Seven, Janeway, with an unpleasant sinking sensation in her stomach, suspected that Seven might not want to leave it.

Finally Janeway hesitantly asked what happened to Ensign Yates and was not surprised when Seven told her he was dead. In a way the simplicity with which Seven delivered the news was refreshing, reassuring her than the Seven she had known wasn't entirely gone from the woman who was obviously embracing motherhood before her.

What Janeway remembered most clearly in the explanation afterward was the expression of sadness on Blackfur's face when he, no she, Janeway corrected herself, returned with the drinks. It spoke even more clearly than Seeker and Seven's explanations that what had happened had been a tragic accident. After reassuring Seeker and his family that she did not hold them at fault Janeway leapt at the chance to hold one of Seven's children when Seven mentioned that they needed to be put to bed for their afternoon nap.

Janeway was surprised when Seven informed her that she and Seeker needed to mark her with their scent so the child would not wake up, and the scientific part of her filed it away for future consideration. When Erin was handed up to her, boneless in her sleep, Janeway couldn't help but smile when the child took one deep breath upon the transfer and then apparently satisfied at the smell relaxed against her. Erin was the fairest of the triplets and the one to Janeway's eyes that looked the most like Seven. All three of them had the same brow line as their father but their noses were not as flat and their faces were squarer, clearly showing their human heritage.

"I guess you don't have to worry about them climbing out of their cribs and falling." commented Janeway when she saw the sleeping area on the floor. 'I have no doubt Seven designed this." Janeway thought to herself, for it was definitely an efficient solution for triplets.

It was the fairly innocuous comment that Janeway made about whether or not they had installed sensor technology that lead to the revelation that there was a telepathic link between Seven and Seeker, and between them and their children.

"There is much that I need to tell you Captain about the Rana." Seven commented to Janeway with a look that Janeway knew meant that Seven was not certain how she would take what she had to tell her.

Janeway found the conversation that followed to be informative and worrisome. It answered many of the questions she had about why Seeker looked so different from the others and raised many more. The revelation that Seeker was hermaphroditic ended up being the least of the surprises that Seven revealed. When Seven finished speaking what was uppermost in Janeway's mind was whether or not Seven had been chemically and/or mentally manipulated into accepting this relationship.

Glancing at Seeker Janeway acknowledged that he… no she, Janeway reminded herself, apparently had even less choice than Seven in what had happened. Janeway couldn't even imagine what it would be like to go from being essentially asexual, to being mentally bonded with someone you barely knew and was now the only person you would ever be able to accept as your lover.

Yet as she stared into Seven's entreating eyes she acknowledged that Seven did not appear to be upset over what had happened and the two of them looked like they were happy. Then there was the fact that for Seven a year had passed and now there were three children to consider. If they had come earlier before Seven had become pregnant she would have considered ordering the Doctor to try and intervene, but now…

Janeway regarded Seven and Seeker and allowed herself to consider the possibility that even if Seven didn't have a choice initially that she might very well be in love with Seeker now. 'Maybe the Doctor can answer some of these questions,' Janeway thought to herself hoping that he would be able to tell her whether or not Seven was currently being mentally or chemically manipulated in any way.

'And if she is being manipulated?' Janeway's mental voice asked her. 'We will cross that bridge when we come to it,' Janeway answered herself acknowledging that she would probably choose to do nothing. She couldn't even guess what trauma she might inflict on Seven, Seeker and Seven's children if anything were to disrupt the bonds between them.

"Still I want to know,' Janeway thought, 'hopefully the Doctor will find nothing and I can be happy for her without any reservations.'

Janeway managed to persuade Seven to visit the Doctor and let him look over her, Seeker and the children. Then she became aware from the silent but intent way Seven and Seeker were looking at each other that some wordless communication was going on between them. The conversation apparently finished, Seven turned and offered Janeway hope that the Captain might get her most fervent wish, to get her crew home, fulfilled.

Transwarp coils, and perhaps the means to make more. The last time Voyager had stolen some from a Borg sphere they had almost lost Seven to the Borg and taken 10,000 light years off their journey, and that had been from a used coil. If Voyager could get a few of these coils they could be home in mere days.

"Bio suits," Janeway said aloud in the silence that had fallen at Seven's revelation. "We can have the crew wearing bio suits whenever they are on the planet."

Tuvok nodded approvingly, "If the Rana cannot detect a scent then presumably a mating bond cannot be initiated. We should know for certain once the Doctor had completed his examination if that is a viable solution."

Janeway turned back to Seven and Seeker, "How soon could the Doctor examine you?"

Seeker rumbled, "Your clan should be with their ranns, when the children awake we will visit Voyager."

Seeker had been translating for Scarface and Softfur the entire time, now Scarface signed 'They think it is a bad thing to have a Rana for a mate?" her ears were slightly flattened as she signed this.

Seeker obligingly translated for her and they waited for Janeway, who now looked rather dismayed, to respond.

"No," Janeway realized belatedly how what she had said could be taken and tried to salvage what was after all a first contact, "Rana recognize their mates by smell correct?"

Seeker, and after translation, Scarface nodded.

"And they would recognize if someone already had a mate by the presence of their smell on the person," after receiving nods to this Janeway finished, "We have people who have been separated from their families for six years, there would be no way for a Rana to realize that they already had a mate."

Janeway waited to see if her explanation would be accepted. She wasn't exactly lying, but she certainly wasn't about to tell Seeker's parents that she wasn't about to subject any more of her crew into what might well be chemical and mental manipulation. If her suspicions were incorrect she might reevaluate the situation, but for now she was determined that no one else would go through Seven's experience.

Scarface looked at Janeway intently and then signed, Seeker translated, "And if any of those who do not yet have a mate wishes to seek one here?"

Janeway stopped herself from openly frowning; obviously there was nothing animal like about their intelligence, Scarface had seen right through that explanation. She hesitated for a long moment then measuring out her words replied, "Please believe me, my problem isn't with some of my crew finding mates here. The problem is that soon Voyager will move on in its journey to our own home. If some of my crew were to find mates here, then eventually they would have to face the choice of leaving the family that is Voyager to stay here, or your people would have to leave the planet that is their home. By preventing people from finding mates here, I am preventing the problem that Seven already faces from happening with the rest of the crew."

Scarface looked at Janeway intently for several quiet moments then began signing again.

Seeker and Seven watched intently, replying at points. When Scarface appeared done Janeway looked inquiringly at Seven waiting tensely for the translation. Janeway noted that Seven appeared uncertain and she frowned wondering what Scarface had said that would cause her to hesitate before translating it.

Finally Scarface rumbled commandingly and Janeway glanced over at her. As she did so Scarface met her gaze with what she thought was a disapproving one. Seven sighed but obediently translated, "Scarface says that you do not show the proper respect for my rann, she wonders if you do not respect the most basic element of a society what else you will not respect."

Janeway was flabbergasted, whatever she had been expecting, being accused of a lacking morals had certainly not been in any of the quick scenarios she had been running through her head.

"Captain, if I may?" the calm voice of Tuvok came from behind her.

Biting back the indignant reply that wanted to come out Janeway instead nodded curtly for him to continue.

"From my understanding the entirety of Rana culture is built around the rann and the telepathic bonds that form between the parents and children?" He waited for confirmation then continued, "Rana values then center not around the individual but their relationships with others, their parents and siblings first then eventually their relationship with their own mate."

"I believe a few questions will make the difference between Human and Rana culture clearer." Tuvok requested.

By this time Scarface, Seeker and Seven were staring at him in curiosity and quickly nodded their permission.

"Barring mental instability have their ever been any incidents of violence among the Rana?" Tuvok asked.

Seeker stared at him in confusion then turned toward Seven for an explanation.

"The concepts for that condition do not exist in the Rana language, Commander. I believe that Kayata eliminated any genetic defects that she found in the population while she was guiding their evolution." Seven then turned and held a silent conversation with Seeker, at the end of it Seeker turned and gave the humans an odd look and then nodded to her.

"Rana do not intentionally hurt other Rana," Seeker picked up the conversation. "I did not even conceive of such a thing before Seven became my mate and I learned about humans. Perhaps it is due to the obvious difference, the telepathic bond children have with their siblings and parents. It allows us to have a greater understanding of the effects our actions have upon others. Seven argues that the differences are more basic than that and stem from our respective species differing evolutionary strategies."

This was Seven's obvious cue to take over the conversation and she quite willingly picked it up. "Humans evolved during a time period of intense climate change. During my exploration of humanity I noticed that humans need to master their environment, and frequently anthropomorphize it as being hostile to them. This attitude extends to all their interaction with others, the stranger is evaluated first as a potential hostile even when humans tell themselves that they are attempting to make friends."

Seven continued, "As most of the species in the galaxy evolved under similar circumstances and act in similar ways, it is frequently a prudent course of action. The Rana by contrast have taken an almost Borg like approach to evolution, if they see a life form that is better adapted or has a characteristic they think desirable they 'assimilate' it into their own species." Seven smirked at Seeker as she said this and everyone could see the open merriment in her eyes.

Seeker rumbled in amusement at the comment and Janeway noted that it appeared to be a casual subject of amusement between them. If only she didn't suspect that it was only too accurate a statement of the current circumstances.

Seven continued, "Thus the Rana initial reaction is not 'does the unknown represent a threat that must be destroyed or controlled' but one of cautious evaluation 'does the unknown have characteristics that would be useful to the Rana'. The Rana are thus naturally less aggressive than humans. I believe that the lack of violence among the Rana is due to this characteristic combined with the stronger bonds between them due to the telepathic bond."

"I don't believe that we are that violent anymore. We've outgrown that." Janeway protested. However, the conversation had brought home to her why Scarface would have taken her statements so poorly.

Humans might claim that family was important to them, but when you came down to it people ended relationships, cheated on their spouses and left their children behind every day. She was starting to see that not only did Rana not do this but the very concept was foreign to them. Their families or rann were bastions of stability, the fidelity of its members to one another unquestioned in a way that was just not possible among humans.

Janeway knew she would have to think about the cultural differences and expectations that might arise from this basic difference for awhile. Right now she did not have the luxury of contemplating them, but she did have a better understanding of why any questioning of Seven and Seeker's relationship would cause the Rana to question her values and character.

"Seven, I apologize if it seemed as if I didn't respect your relationship with Seeker. Would you also translate my apologies to Scarface, I did not mean to offend her, or imply that I do not respect Rana beliefs and values." Janeway turned to face Scarface directly, trusting that Seven would continue translating for her. "I need to understand what has happened here, relationships are not formed this way in my race. I have duties to my crew as their Captain that I must fulfill; one of these is to ensure their safety. I would fail this duty if I let my people interact with yours before I fully understood the situation."

Scarface looked at Janeway intently then reluctantly nodded, but Janeway knew she hadn't entirely convinced her. If only one of her crew wasn't involved, Janeway though, she could allow her natural curiosity full reign and just appreciate these people for what they were. And somewhere in this situation she couldn't help but feel, there was a need to consider the Prime Directive, she just couldn't tell what was bothering her about it at the moment. Janeway did know though that she wanted to get back to Voyager and discuss the situation privately with Chakotay and Tuvok.

"The children are waking." Seven's voice broke into Janeway's thoughts. Seven had her head tilted slightly to the side as if she were listening and there was a soft smile on her face. It was a look Janeway had never seen on the former drone, it surprised her and brought home the positive effect Seven's relationship with Seeker and her children had upon her.

An hour later Janeway was sitting in her Ready Room discussing the events of the day with Chakotay and Tuvok having dropped off Seven, Seeker and the children with the Doctor in Sickbay. Janeway had heard rumors that the Doctor felt something for Seven, and his reaction to Seven's new family only confirmed it.

Janeway had called ahead to Sickbay before they transported up to the ship. "Doctor we've found Seven. She appears to be alright but it's been a just over a year for her on the planet." The Doctor had broken in with questions about Seven's implants and Ensign Yates, "She's been able to maintain them with Seeker's help and unfortunately Ensign Yates died shortly after the shuttle crash landed."

"Who is Seeker?" the bewildered hologram had asked.

Janeway hesitated for a moment remembering the rumors, "The Rana who took care of Seven when she was injured in the crash. They formed a telepathic bond with one another and Seeker is now Seven's mate. They have three beautiful six month olds. I need you to do a complete workup on all of them. I'll tell you more after we transport up."

"Seven's married?" came the reply, disbelief obvious in the tone.

"Essentially, yes," Janeway replied cautiously.

There had been along silence, "I'll… I'll prepare for their arrival Captain. Doctor out."

There had been an almost hollow tone to his voice, and Janeway realized that the rumors had been correct. The Doctor hadn't even bothered to pepper her with questions as she had expected. Even the telepathic bond information hadn't elicited one.

When an awake Erin had been handed to her for the transport up to Voyager, Janeway had found herself being intently examined by the curious child. "She reminds me of Naomi Wildman at this age," Janeway commented. "How long do Rana children take to mature?"

"Thirteen years, Captain. They will mature at approximately the same rate as Naomi Wildman." Seven replied.

Looking back at the blue eyed, blond haired child that regarded her so seriously Janeway commented to her with a smile, "So do I pass muster?"

Erin babbled something unintelligible in reply and gave Janeway a toothy grin, then fell to trying to pull the pip's off Janeway's collar.

"You may be in danger of being demoted, Captain." observed Tuvok.

Janeway chuckled, "I may be." she admitted. "But I'm more worried about her getting one loose and deciding to taste it."

"I do not believe she can get a good enough grip to do so, Captain." said Seven after a moment's consideration.

The transporter beam had interrupted anything else and when they had appeared in Voyager's transporter room Janeway noticed that the Ensign behind the controls was gaping like a landed fish. One direct look from her though and he recollected his manners, snapped his mouth shut and stood at attention.

"Do you want me to accompany you to Sickbay?" Chakotay asked Janeway with a slight furrow marring his brow.

Janeway hesitated only slightly before she shook her head, realizing that her First Officer also knew about the Doctor's feeling toward Seven. "No, one of us should be on the bridge."

Chakotay gave her a sympathetic look before he turned and left.


	4. Voyager Chapter 2

**A Perfect Mate – Voyager Chapter 2**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.

Warning: None.

Rating: R

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 01/14/06

Summary: Seven and Seeker visit Voyager.

* * *

The Doctor had been examining Seven with the same professional, but wounded, demeanor that he had been displaying ever since the Captain escorted them to Sickbay. 

Seeker had not even noticed the behavior until she felt Seven's confusion at it through their bond. At first Seven had been perplexed and slightly hurt by the Doctors attitude, then she had realized the reason for it.

Seven wasn't quite certain how to react, perhaps she should have identified the Doctor's feelings from his behavior during their 'date,' but she had been so disappointed at his and Tom Paris's bet that she had not analyzed that night any further. Then there had been the shuttle mission, the ion storm and shuttle crash, and meeting Seeker. Except for wishing he had been there while Seeker was metamorphosing into a more humanoid form, she had not thought of the Doctor that often during the past year.

She understood that from the Doctors perspective it had only been a week since he had seen her last, but from hers it had been a year. A year during which she had absorbed quite a bit of the Rana culture and viewpoint, and from a Rana point of view what the Doctor was feeling was inconceivable. One simply did not desire someone who was not their mate. She was caught between her human understanding, and even sympathy for the Doctor's feelings, and her own and Seekers unease with them.

"So, how did you and Seeker meet?" the Doctor asked with false joviality.

"I was hunting with my rann when we saw a large object streak across the sky and crash into the earth. We went to investigate it that was when Ensign Yates fired upon my mother Scarface, when we reacted he attempted to run but he fell and struck his head upon the shuttle ramp. It killed him instantly," Seeker informed the Doctor.

Seeker was uneasy with how the Doctor had no smell, even though she knew the reason why. And more troubled by the way he was acting around Seven. Seeker understood that humans were not like the Rana when it came to how they found their mates. But actually seeing one, even one that was an artificial sentient in human form, display attraction to her mate was another matter. Seven's eyes met hers and she felt Seven's reassurance through their bond, it did not matter what these other humans thought or felt, Seven only loved her, was only her mate.

Before the Doctor could comment on Ensign Yates, Seven continued the narrative. "Seeker stayed and took care of me as I was injured in the crash and unconscious. Seekers race has the ability to evaluate the DNA of other species for compatibility and desirable genetic traits. I believe that within seconds of coming into contact with my blood Seeker's body had already broken down and analyzed my DNA and determined that I was a suitable mate."

Seven paused as the Doctor, his wounded feelings apparently completely forgotten, stepped away from her and began scanning Seeker. Seven relaxed, realizing that the Doctors professional curiosity was fully engaged, and he had apparently forgotten or at least pushed aside his feelings. Hopefully, by the time he had satisfied his curiosity, he would be able to accept that she was Seekers mate with less distress.

"The Captain mentioned there were significant structural differences between Seeker and his family?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, Seeker looked like the rest of her race when I regained consciousness and saw her for the fist time. But internally her physiology would have already been changing to become compatible with mine; the entire process took eight days until it was complete, by the eighth day Seeker looked as she does now." Seven finished.

"Fascinating," the Doctor commented, "I need to do more testing but from what you have told me, and from what I can tell of Seeker's physiology, it appears that the Rana are extremely close to being a true polymorphic race." The Doctor paused, a thoughtful look on his face, "They might even eventually develop into one depending on their environmental pressures," he shrugged.

"Very few," Seven remarked truthfully. "The Rana, because of Katara's efforts, lead a fairly easy life. Food is plentiful, the planets weather is fair, there is little environmental pressure for them to evolve or even advance technically beyond what they have now."

"Then they might, or might not," the Doctor acknowledged.

Seven relaxed completely when the Doctor started humming an operatic tune while he set up the bio bed for some tests he wanted to run on Seeker, knowing that he was now completely involved in his work.

Since there was no good place for the children to sit in sickbay, she and Seeker had simply sat on the floor while the Doctor scanned them first with his medical tricorder. Melody and Finder were seated on Seekers lap while she held Erin.

A sense of sharp curiosity drew her attention to Melody who was staring at the Doctor with intent fascination. When the Doctor turned around to address Seeker he stopped humming. Melody let out an unhappy cry and looked up at Seeker, hoping that she would get the strange man to make the interesting sounds again.

"What's wrong?" asked the Doctor concerned grabbing his tricorder and starting to examine the child again.

"You stopped humming," Seven and Seeker said almost together. They looked at each other in amusement and Seven continued, "All Rana children are named after they show distinct personality traits, Melody is so named because of her interest in music."

"Oh," the Doctor said in surprise then his face broke out into a smile, "Well." He paused for a moment then began singing what Seven knew was his favorite aria from "La Boehme".

When he finished Melody smiled at him and gave a childish version of a rumble of approval. She struggled until Seeker let her climb off her lap, and then with utter determination she crawled over to the Doctor who with a bemused look picked her up. As Seven and Seeker looked on in amusement, feeling their daughter's fascination and delight, Melody babbled at the Doctor for a few seconds and then stopped, looking at him expectantly.

The Doctor looked at Seven, his expression slightly confused.

"She wishes for you to sing again," Seven explained.

The Doctor beamed at Melody, "What an intelligent child," he commented approvingly.

* * *

B'Elanna had at first thought the engineering crew was carrying out some elaborate joke on her, until Harry had come by and confirmed it. Seven was aboard Voyager, but she was definitely not alone, she had transported up with a husband and three children. From what Harry had heard, the husband was tall, humanoid, distinctly feline in appearance, and belonged to the native race of the planet they were orbiting. The computer didn't know Seven's location, which confused her until she realized it simply meant that Seven wasn't wearing a communications badge. 

It didn't take her long to decide that Seven's most probable location was sickbay, only she couldn't think of any reasonable excuse to go there. She could of course simply walk in but then everyone, including Seven, would know that she had only dropped by out of curiosity and that was unacceptable. "Tom," she exclaimed to herself, realizing that surely he had been to sickbay and would have some information.

She found him five minutes later in the mess hall sitting at a table with Harry. "So Tom, were you in sickbay today," B'Elanna asked as soon as she sat down, looking at him expectantly.

Tom grinned at her, "I walked in and was promptly thrown out by the Doctor. Only enough time to get a look at Seven, her new husband and their three kids. I don't know what's up, but something is they've been in there for hours."

"So? What did he look like?" she asked impatiently.

His eyes widened as he looked over her shoulder, "Like that."

She turned around; walking though the doorway was the Captain, the Doctor, Seven, and a tall feline humanoid that was undoubtedly her husband. Thick reddish brown hair with catlike ears showing through it, slitted topaz eyes, tannish colored skin, thick brows that merged with a slender human looking nose, a triangular face with high cheekbones, nice broad shoulders and a muscular build, B'Elanna noted in a quick glance. The three children were carried by the Captain, Seven and the tall feline male, two blonde haired babies and one with the same color hair as the child's father. Looking at the children again she spotted the tiny ears just slightly poking up through their hair.

Even though she had known that it was true, the sight of Seven with three children and a spouse still dumbfounded her. She had never thought of the drone as maternal…her thought trailed off, and she had to honestly add…except with Naomi, the ship's only child. She remembered seeing the two playing kadis kot one time, and had been surprised by how Seven almost seemed like a regular person with the child, instead of the perfectionistic, cold woman the half-Klingon was more familiar with.

She along with the rest of the room, watched as Seven and the Doctor ordered servings of stewed peas, beans, carrots, sweet potatoes and pureed chicken and beef as if were the most interesting thing they had ever heard or seen. It was only when the Captain cleared her throat and gave the entire room a narrow eyed command glare that people turned back to their own food.

Because the Captain had chosen to sit at the back of the mess hall, B'Elanna had a clear view of the group from her seat while Tom and Harry did not. So not only could she observe Seven and the others without being obvious about it, but she got to watch the two men try and steal glances without drawing attention to themselves and getting in trouble with the Captain. Fortunately for Tom and Harry, the Captain was busy feeding the child she had been carrying, and not paying much attention to the rest of the room after the one initial look.

Seven didn't pay any attention to the rest of the room, her attention remained focused on the blonde haired baby she was feeding, with occasional glances and comments to the Captain, Doctor and her husband. From the presence of the children B'Elanna knew Seven had to have experienced at least a year or more down on the planet, but even if they hadn't been present, she would have known that some significant amount of time had passed. Seven acted very differently than she had last week, gone was the stiff upright posture, the chill aloofness with which she had interacted with everyone but Naomi, the Doctor and the Captain. This Seven was more relaxed, she smiled, and when she looked at her children or husband her face softened with obvious affection.

When she looked up next her eyes met Sevens blue ones, B'Elanna looked automatically for the hatred she had seen there last but could not find it. Seven certainly didn't return her look with any warmth, but she didn't seem to be angry with her anymore either. Guarded, defensive, were adjectives that came to B'Elanna's mind when she looked into the blonde's eyes then Seven looked back down at the baby she was feeding and did not look her way again.

B'Elanna watched Seven and her new family for a few minutes more then reluctantly got up and exited the mess hall, she needed to return to Engineering, her curiosity about Seven and what had happened down on that planet would have to wait.

* * *

"Doctor, you have a report for us?" Janeway asked, she was tired, and it was eight o'clock in the evening, but she had wanted to hear this report as soon as possible. She had transported down with the Doctor, and Seven's family six hours ago to allow the Doctor to scan Seeker's other family members. The Doctor and she had transported back to the ship four hours ago, and he had contacted her thirty minutes ago to let her know he had a preliminary report prepared. In turn, she had contacted Chakotay and Tuvok and told them to report to the briefing room. 

"I do," the Doctor nodded. "You asked specifically what changes, neurologically and chemically had occurred in Seven. The development of organs to allow telepathic communication with Seeker and her children is really the only change I can determine from my testing. Her higher brain functions and body chemistry are the same, except of course where they interact with those organs as necessary for their functioning." He paused, frowning, "Of course, determining what influence the telepathic contact has upon Seven is another matter, especially given her past." The Doctor admitted.

"I know she was starting to think about relationships, and feeling lonely," admitted the Captain, "It's why she did that study on B'Elanna and Tom."

"I agree," Chakotay commented, "She's been trying to connect with the crew more, but I don't think she's had as much success as she was hoping."

Captain Janeway glanced at Tuvok who had been silent up to this point.

It was a silent prompt, but an effective one, "Most humans would find telepathic contact with another to be influential. In this particular case Seeker fulfils Seven of Nine's need to not be alone, physically, emotionally and mentally. Accepting Seeker as a mate could be considered a logically efficient choice." Tuvok stated.

"Undoubtedly," responded the Doctor, and before anyone else could comment on Tuvok's statement he continued, "But Seeker has more than just the telepathic contact going for her. I don't think Katara left much out when it came to designing the perfect species to entice a more advanced species into accepting them as a sexual partner and having children with them. Seekers entire physiology, neurology, and body chemistry is centered around being a compatible partner for Seven."

Everyone at the table straightened in their chairs, looking at him curiously.

The Doctor preened slightly, pleased that he had their complete attention, "The Rana really are a fascinating race. The full extent of Seekers changes didn't become apparent to me until I compared her with her unmated siblings Blackfur and Swiftfoot. The Rana are intelligent, but their mental development is not quite up to our level. Except for Seeker, I wouldn't be surprised to find that Seeker is fully as intelligent as Seven," he paused with a thoughtful frown, "actually I would be surprised to find that she wasn't." the Doctor corrected himself.

"Seekers body used Seven's DNA as a type of template for what physiological changes to make in order for her to become compatible with Seven. The change in body structure is only the most evident, but comparing Seeker with Blackfur and Swiftfoot shows extensive neurological changes, and changes in DNA encoding so that Seekers is compatible with Seven's human DNA." the Doctor lectured.

"Doctor," interrupted Captain Janeway, "What would have happened had Seven not been willing to become Seeker's mate."

The Doctor paused for a long moment considering the question, he frowned, "I'm not certain, they would have still had the telepathic bond, so Seeker would have been aware of her rejection. I'm not really certain what would have happened at that point, I suspect Seeker's body would have continued attempting to make her acceptable to Seven."

"And if that failed?" Janeway pushed.

"If you're asking whether Seeker would have tried to physically force herself on Seven, I don't know the answer to that. We just don't know enough about their psychology, and I'd say that the situation doesn't arise between two Rana." The Doctor answered helplessly.

"Captain, do you really think Seeker would have physically forced herself on Seven?" asked Chakotay with a frown.

"No, not really, not given their aversion to violence. I just wanted to know what the worse case scenario would be if this happened to someone else." Janeway answered.

"I'm sorry Captain but I don't have enough information to even make an intelligent guess." The Doctor replied.

Janeway nodded, a thoughtful look on her face, "Doctor can you determine exactly what the sequence of events are that lead to them being able to determine whether or not another Rana or other person is compatible, and how do they tell if a potential mate is already bonded and not available?"

The Doctor frowned, "I don't believe they entirely understand how they choose a mate. I get conflicting information from Seven and Seeker, and from Scarface, as to how the process occurs. I'm not certain if it's entirely by smell, or if bodily fluids are required, such as occurred when Seeker cared for Seven and came into contact with her blood. My initial theory is that scent alone is sufficient for Rana to Rana selections, but bodily fluids containing DNA are required for Non-Rana selections."

"That might indicate that bio-suits won't be needed," Chakotay said hopefully. The bio-suits were uncomfortable, and since the area they needed to search was mountainous, potentially dangerous as well since they were difficult to work and move around in.

"I'm not completely certain that bodily fluids are required though Commander, I might be wrong, the Rana are quite adaptive," the Doctor commented with a worried look.

"The searchers will be in bio-suits, I don't want to take any chances," Captain Janeway ordered.

Chakotay nodded, acknowledging that they didn't need to run any risks.

"As for your other question, I believe there is a feedback effect of some type tied to their olfactory organs. If they scent another Rana's or person's pheromones it suppresses the process by which they chose a mate. At least that's my theory at this point, I suspect it would take several months of intensive study to come to any definite conclusions." the Doctor stated.

Janeway nodded, "Is that all Doctor?" she inquired.

"Well there are some intriguing differences in their development and structure of their sexual organs." the Doctor proclaimed eagerly.

The room was silent for a moment, finally Janeway spoke up, "Do you think those differences have anything to do with Seven's acceptance of Seeker, and would any other crew member beside Seven also have reacted to them in the same way?" her voice was carefully neutral, as was her guarded expression.

"I would think so, considering the unique physical structure of the Rana sexual organs, and the two stage ejaculation process which includes a rather interesting chemical cocktail that increases the sensitivity of the sexual organs, the intensity of the second orgasm for both parties, and strengthens the telepathic contact for a short time." the Doctor nodded.

Janeway stared at him, trying to drive down the slight flush of embarrassment she was certain was appearing on her face. Controlling her reaction she asked, "Are you saying that this compound is…addictive?" she asked.

"No that that I have determined, but it certainly would be effective at encouraging continued sexual intercourse, especially since the Rana sexual organs seem to be designed to adjust themselves to perfectly fit almost any species." The Doctor stated in an admiring tone. "Really quite astonishing, not only are they hermaphroditic, but the male organ can adjust not only in length but also a wide range of widths."

"Perhaps you should just include that information in your report Doctor," Janeway interrupted before he could continue, even though she had to admit to herself that she was now rather curious as to how that particular fact was managed. "Oh and Doctor please make sure that all these files are locked to my, Chakotay and Tuvok's codes."

"Of course, I'll take care of that immediately," the Doctor nodded.

Thirty minutes later Janeway was trying desperately not to laugh too loudly, the Doctor almost waxed poetic about the advanced physiology of the Rana sexual organs, and she wouldn't be at all surprised if B'Elanna came to her complaining that the Doctor had been messing with his programming again. She was also trying to ignore the slight niggle of envy she felt when she considered the implications of the data for Seven's love life.


	5. Voyager Chapter 3

**A Perfect Mate – Voyager Chapter 3**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.

Warning: None

Rating: Teen

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 05/30/06

Summary: Voyagers crew searches for the hidden laboratory.

* * *

B'Elanna grunted as she struggled to make her way up the steep slope covered with loose rock and gravel that rolled and slid under her feet. She was currently cursing the fact that she and her team had to wear bio suits with their awkward, ill-suited for this type of terrain, over-boots, while searching a mountain range for one particular cave entrance that might hold the key to them getting home. She looked up the slope gauging the remaining distance to its top. She shifted her weight and the loose rock under her boots gave way. She slid a few feet back down the slope before recovering her footing.

Heart hammering, she paused to catch her breath, and continued her interrupted silent monologue. A mountain range that had fistrum deposits scattered throughout its length rendering Voyagers sensors unable to scan for the cave from orbit and made their tricorders equally useless as well. Which was, of course, how she ended up, along with most of Voyager's crewmembers, searching said mountain range on foot. B'Elanna paused her internal dialogue long enough to scan the area around and ahead of her for anything that looked like it might be a hole in the ground. Seeing nothing promising, B'Elanna snorted and began picking her way up the slope again.

She had to admit to herself though that this was marginally better than being the focus of Janeway's curious, worried gaze. Kathryn could get those moments of perception at the most awkward times, such as this morning when she had commented that she wanted everyone in bio suits no matter what their relationship status. She had glanced over at B'Elanna with a small smile and then at Tom. The smile on her face faded, and B'Elanna knew as she saw the sharpening grey-eyed gaze that the Captain had picked up on the fact that something wasn't right between them.

Arriving at the designated coordinate and seeing nothing that looked like a cave entrance, B'Elanna polled her team. Nothing. Time to move on to their next search coordinate, B'Elanna located it and began picking her way carefully toward it. She and Tom had argued several days ago after he had gotten caught up in a game of pool at Sardines and forgotten to let her know he wouldn't be sharing dinner with her. They had agreed, and not for the first time, to give one another some space for a few weeks and see how they felt.

He wasn't cheating on her, she was certain she would hear about that from someone, nothing stayed a secret on this ship for long. He just didn't...B'Elanna frowned at her tricorder annoyed that she was unable to get a decent scan of the immediate area. She sighed, looked up the hillside trying to pick out the best path to walk to her objective, and continued her interrupted thought. Tom just didn't seem as thoughtful as he had a year ago, they still had fun together, the sex between them was great, it was just a lot of little things he didn't do that had started to add up for her recently. B'Elanna snarled to herself silently, that and Seven's field study of them. Why had Seven had to study them of all people?

Her anger left as quickly as it had appeared, leaving her feeling weary and depressed. As angry and upset as Seven's study had made her, the honest part of her couldn't disagree with the Borg's evaluation of their relationship once she had read her conclusion. Seven was right, both she and Tom were settling for one another, for the best possible mates for each of them available on Voyager. Of every male on the ship that returned her interest, Tom was the best match for her now that she had given up on Chakotay ever returning her interest. And, she guessed, she was the best possible match out of all the women on Voyager for Tom. But damn Seven for studying them in the first place, and damn her for pointing it out so...B'Elanna ground her teeth together...clearly.

B'Elanna scrambled over the crest of the slope in relief only to skid to an abrupt stop as she found herself staring down into a large and deep angular opening in the ground. It looked like a sinkhole, or the roof of a cavern that had collapsed. Suddenly the ground she was standing on gave way and she fell. B'Elanna flailed her arms about trying to find anything to hold onto to break her slide. As she fell, B'Elanna thought she saw a figure appear on the far side of the sinkhole. Someone saw me; she thought with relief just before a forceful impact on her helmet shattered it and rendered her unconscious.

Blackfur's ears laid down flat on her head in dismay as she looked at the jagged opening in the earth. She had run as fast as she could from where she had been watching the searchers once she realized where the one female was headed, but she had not gotten close enough to warn her in time. Cautiously Blackfur approached the edge and looked down. She could not see the human but she could smell blood, the female was injured.

The Rana examined the walls of the sinkhole carefully, looking for a way to get down into it so she could help Seven's clan member. Blackfur knew that these people were not actually Seven's clan. They were not her mother's siblings or parents, but they were the closest thing Seven had to a clan before she and Seeker mated.

Blackfur had asked Seven about them after Scarface had related what happened after she and Swiftfoot left. She had been curious about what they had said, wondered why they were not pleased that Seven and Seeker had mated. Seven explained that time had passed differently for them, that to them it had only been a few weeks, not the months that she had experienced. To them it seemed as if she had suddenly changed into a different person, and they blamed Seeker for the change, not understanding that it had been something that she had wanted as well. There was also the fact that she was choosing Rana ways over Human ways, Seven believed some of the disagreement was due to the fact they felt she was rejecting her own people and their ways.

Seven had smiled then, and indicated that they would be correct if they thought that. She found the Rana much easier to understand in their thoughts and actions than the constantly changing thoughts and actions of Humans. Looking solemnly at Blackfur Seven had told her that she and her family had accepted Seven. The crew of Voyager had not really accepted her. Janeway had told Seven she could find the clan she needed on Voyager. Janeway had made it sound easy, it had not been, and Voyager's crew had not replaced the closeness of the clan she had known before, the Borg. But that clan had kidnapped her and forced her to be a part of it and it was a bad clan. She did not want to return to them and take part in the bad things they did to others. It had been Seeker, and Seeker's family that had given her the feeling of closeness and acceptance she needed.

Thoughts of the conversation with Seven faded from Blackfur's mind as she finally mapped out what looked like a safe way down into the opening in the earth. Carefully she started making her way down into the earth, making full use of every root she could grab and digging her hands into the soil to slow her descent where there were no roots. Several heart pumping moments later she arrived at the bottom, dirt coated and scratched here and there, but mostly unhurt. She paused and shook herself, dislodging some of the dirt that had settled in her fur and then peered around. She was several body lengths down into the earth and the sun was at the wrong angle to cast much light into the opening making it difficult to see much in the gloom of the large chamber like cavern she found her self standing within. It was her nose not her eyes that finally lead her to the fallen human.

Blackfur made a churring distress filled noise when she saw the woman, the strange clear bubble that had covered her head was shattered, leaving jagged edges that had cut into the humans face. Blood flowed from cuts on her jaw and neck, and as Blackfur got closer she was able to see blood in the dirt beneath the woman's head. She knelt and carefully parted the dark hair looking for the source of the blood, and found a deep gash, as long as her smallest finger on the side of the woman's head.

She knew the woman was still alive, she could hear her breathing in the echoing silence of the cave. Blackfur looked back toward the opening; she could not move the woman by herself. It would be difficult to get herself back up to the surface, much less someone who was unconscious. She rose and went to look at the walls of the opening looking for a way back up, she would find other humans and bring them back to help this one. She had tentatively chosen a path when a strange noise caught her attention.

Blackfur froze, and peered into the gloomy depths of the chamber. Movement caught her eye and she stared in amazement as part of the cavern wall wavered and then disappeared, revealing a brightly lit opening. Technology Seven called it, the opening lead to an area surfaced with metal and filled with technology like Seeker and Seven had in their home. Two metal things stood in the opening, as tall as a Rana, and vaguely shaped like a Rana standing upright.

Blackfur started with surprise as they moved, walking on their two metal legs toward the injured human woman and herself. She hesitated for a moment indecisively, then darted forward, placing herself between the woman and the approaching metal things. Blackfur did not know who the woman was, but the human was hurt and unconscious, and unable to defend herself, so she would have to defend her if needed from these strange metal things.

As soon as she moved in front of the prone woman they stopped, and then to Blackfur's surprise the one on the left began signing in Rana. "Is she your mate?" it asked.

For a long dumbfounded moment, Blackfur did not respond, then she shook herself and answered, "No, I am unmated. She is clan to Seven my sister Seeker's mate, and she is injured."

The metal things did nothing for a moment then the one who had communicated before signed, "She is injured. We will help her only if a Rana asks and stays with her."

"You can heal her?" Blackfur asked.

"Yes," it replied.

Blackfur drew in a deep breath and made her decision, "Help her, I will stay with her." She watched as the metal things carefully picked up the injured woman, then with one last look at the patch of sky showing through the opening she turned and followed them.

Fifteen minutes or so later, if anyone had been around to watch they would have seen the opening appear once again in the cavern wall and several robots much smaller than the two that had appeared earlier emerge. Five went to where B'Elanna had fallen and began removing the blood soaked soil. The others scattered about the cavern and the raw walls of the opening to the surface. Ten minutes after they appeared, they completed their task, no sign of the damaged human or the Rana who had followed remained. The hidden opening once again camouflaged, the rocky walls of the chamber appeared unbroken and whole, giving no sign of the advanced technology a only few feet away.

* * *

"That is not an acceptable answer," Janeway stated emphatically, staring hard at Chakotay and Tuvok. She stared at her First Officer, "The collapsed cavern you found, are you sure there is no sign that she fell or looked in there? It's along the path she would have taken from her last position to her next search coordinate."

Chakotay glanced over at Tuvok questioningly. The Vulcan spoke up, "We found no evidence of her presence within the chamber or along the walls of the collapsed area. We did find footprints that indicated she was walking toward the area of the collapsed cave, and it is the most likely area for her to have disappeared as we found no sign of her presence between the cave and her next search coordinate."

Janeway started pacing slowly, "Yet there is not sign of her there." She paused, stared directly at him, "Do you think that she could have fallen in and someone removed her and all evidence that she was there?"

An expression passed over Tuvok's face as if he had bitten into something bitter, "I am uncertain, it does not seem a likely scenario. Yet, the Lt. Torres has disappeared, and we know she was headed toward the opening of the collapsed area and we can find no sign of her elsewhere."

The Captain resumed her pacing for a few moments, then stopped behind her desk and leaned upon it. "We've run into situations before where caves were not what they appeared to be. Is there any sign of a force field or any technology like the Viridians used to hide their bases?"

Chakotay straightened a frown upon his face, but before he could comment, Tuvok nodded thoughtfully and commented, "That type of technology might have been possessed by the researcher who created the Rana. If so, it is most likely used to hide the presence of her laboratory. I will return to the surface and scan for the presence of that type of technology."

* * *

"It was a stupid joke Dean," the oldest girl scolded they younger boy. Turning toward a young B'Elanna, she said apologetically, "He's always doing stuff like that to me." She said referring to the worm the boy had put on top of B'Elanna's sandwich claiming Klingons liked live food.

B'Elanna's response was only to glare and growl at the boy who finally had the grace to look ashamed of himself.

"Don't be mad, B'Elanna," Dean asked.

As quickly as she had gotten angry, the emotion drained away, leaving B'Elanna feeling embarrassed of her behavior. Unable to continue facing her two cousins' she turned and ran into the woods. Only to...

"Umph," was sound both made as air exploded from their lungs as they came into forceful contact with one another. B'Elanna scrambled hurriedly away from whatever she had run into when she realized it was fur covered, thinking it was some type of animal and might attack her.

Wide jade-green slitted eyes met hers, their owner apparently as surprised as she over their rather forceful meeting. As B'Elanna got a good look at what she had run into, she became more and more confused, she had never heard of any large cat like animal living on Kessik IV, yet somehow the strange catlike creature seemed familiar.

The young B'Elanna backed up cautiously as it rose to its feet from where she had knocked it down. At first, it rested on its hind and fore legs, but then it stood upright and made a curious sounding churring noise at her. The fur covering its body was black, and at first she thought it was uniformly black, but looking closer she saw dark brown fur mixed in with the black forming a muted pattern. The creature made another sound and gestured, and B'Elanna realized suddenly she was not looking at an animal but a person.

Again the same gesture, and this time B'Elanna heard in her mind, "Blackfur."

B'Elanna understood immediately that the strange cat-like person was naming itself, and that it was a she. Her mind racing, she blurted, "Are you telepathic?"

After a long moment, Blackfur replied, "Yes."

The two stared at each other curiously until Blackfur signed once again, "Where are we?"

B'Elanna frowned, "Recreational Park 5," she answered.

Blackfur looked around curiously, "This is where you were born?"

B'Elanna nodded. "Well not in the park, of course, but on this planet Kessik IV," she added. She watched Blackfur look around, the upright ears that showed through the longer mane of black fur on the head perked forward alertly. "Where are you from?" she asked curiously.

"Rana," Blackfur answered.

A flash of a rock-covered hillside passed though her mind, followed immediately by a sharp stabbing pain in her head. "B'Elanna," Blackfur's mental voice was filled with concern, and the furred hands that gently gripped her shoulders and steadied her conveyed the same emotion.

The pain faded as swiftly as it had come, leaving B'Elanna bewildered as to what could have caused it. "I'm ok now," she said to Blackfur, her voice still slightly shaky.

Blackfur held her for a moment longer, jade-green eyes searching hers, before finally releasing her. It was difficult for B'Elanna to read the different facial expressions on the broadly muzzled face, but she thought Blackfur looked troubled.

"Really, I'm ok. I don't know why my head hurt, but I'm fine now," B'Elanna reassured what she hoped was a new friend. She didn't really have any friends, and Blackfur hadn't commented or even seemed to have noticed that she was part Klingon.

Once again, jade-green eyes met her brown ones. "I would be pleased to be your friend," Blackfur signed, and belatedly B'Elanna remembered that her new friend was telepathic and could read her thoughts. "What are Klingon's and why would you be disliked because your mother is Klingon?"

B'Elanna instinctively bristled at the question, but the evident bewilderment and confusion in Blackfur's mental tone disarmed her. She looked down and kicked viciously at the ground, "Because the Federation used to be at war with the Klingons, so the other kids pick on me because I'm half Klingon."

"Pick on?" Jade-green eyes looked puzzled.

The half-Klingon girl thought at first Blackfur was kidding, but then realized she meant question seriously. "You know, tease, call names, do things like putting worms on you food because Klingons like to eat live things," her tone had dropped to a low growl by the end.

The broadly muzzled head dropped and Blackfur regarded her sadly, "I do not understand why they are unkind to you. Rana do not do these things to each other, we do not pick on or tease one another."

"No one's ever said anything mean to you?" B'Elanna asked disbelievingly.

Blackfur tilted her head to the side, obviously thinking. After a few seconds, she replied simply, "No."

"No," B'Elanna repeated, looking at her new friend in astonishment. Finally she sighed and scuffed her shoe across the ground moodily, "I guess Rana are much nicer than Humans, lucky you."

An uncomfortable silence fell between the two until Blackfur broke it, "Will you show me more of your planet?"

Despite her moodiness and a niggling feeling of jealousy toward Blackfur, the question pleased B'Elanna. It made it sound like she were some type of official ambassador for Kessik. She looked around at the forest, wondering what would interest Blackfur about it. "What other planets have you visited?" she asked.

"I have never been anywhere else but Rana," Blackfur answered, "and here now," she added.

"Oh," the young half-Klingon responded surprised. B'Elanna looked around again, trying to think of what she would be interested in if she visited somewhere for the first time.

"Many things," Blackfur signed, "what trees are these, what do you eat, how do you live?"

"These are genetically modified trees from Earth, their oaks," B'Elanna answered the first and easiest question. The second was not so easy; she liked so many different types of food.

Blackfur signed again, catching her attention, "Think about them."

"Oh, of course," B'Elanna grinned, this was going to be fun.


	6. Voyager Chapter 4

**A Perfect Mate – Voyager Chapter 4**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.

Warning: None really

Rating: T

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 06/14/06

Summary: Injured, B'Elanna dreams.

* * *

The metal things carried the injured woman through long lengths of corridor, turning first this way then that, with Blackfur trailing behind them. Even thought the Rana was extremely worried about the injured woman that was being carried by the metal things, she couldn't resist peering curiously into the various rooms they passed that were filled with strange machines.

The short journey ended when they entered a room with several raised narrow platforms around its edges. Only after the metal things placed the injured woman upon one of these platforms did Blackfur recognize them as beds, for they did not look anything like the beds in Seeker and Seven's home, having odd protrusions arranged along their sides that flashed variously-colored lights.

After carefully cutting off the damaged outer clothing the injured woman wore, the metal things healed the wounds on her body. Blackfur had observed Seven heal wounds on her younger sisters and on Seven's children before, but she was no less awed now at seeing a wound mend and disappear before her eyes than she had been the first time.

Blackfur watched curiously as the metal things scanned she and the injured woman, recognizing what they were doing only because she had seen Seven scan Erin after the child had injured herself and asked her what she was doing. After completing their scan the metal things stood motionless for several long moments before they moved once again, and then it was to do something at the side of the bed. A strange blue glow suddenly surrounded the injured human, causing the Rana to jump back a short distance in surprise before recovering and approaching the bed cautiously once again wondering what the glow could be.

She turned to the metal things and signed her question, asking what the glow was and why hadn't the woman woken up. Finally the metal things turned to Blackfur, but all they signed to her was that the inside of the woman's head needed more time to heal, and that the two of them would be allowed to stay until she was fully recovered. Then the metal things left, ignoring Blackfur's question of how long the human needed to heal. The opening they had walked in through closed behind the two as they exited, and did not reappear when the Rana approached where it had been.

The dark-furred Rana searched determinedly for a way out of the room, but eventually had to acknowledge that she could find none. Dejectedly, wondering if she had made a poor decision in accepting the metal things help, she curled up on the bed next to the unconscious woman and finally fell asleep only to find herself sharing the injured woman's dreams.

Seeker had once explained to Blackfur how she and Seven had dreamed together the first time. But this did not appear to be like that, Seeker and Seven had both been aware they were dreaming. The injured woman, whose name Blackfur learned was B'Elanna Torres, was not aware that she was dreaming, or that the events she was dreaming about were in her own past from when she was a child.

And the events of her past…Blackfur knew that Humans and Rana were different, but she had not appreciated before now the extent of those differences. It seemed as if young humans, and especially the young males, were extremely unkind to one another. After seeing the behavior of the other youngsters of B'Elanna's clan, and witnessing though the young girl's memories the way she was treated by other non-clan members, Blackfur understood only too well why the young half-Klingon disliked her appearance and the way it singled her out from the other children.

Currently the two of them were sitting side by side in what B'Elanna called a tent watching and listening as B'Elanna's father talked to his brother. What they were discussing was difficult for Blackfur to understand, not because of any difficulty understanding the words, but because of what he was saying.

"She's gotten moody, unpredictable, argumentative, just like her mother."

Even at this distance, the two could see the confused expression on his brother's face, "I thought you loved Miral's...intensity."

B'Elanna's father sighed, "Everything's become a fight with her. I guess the older I get the less intensity I can handle." He shook his head and stirred the fire, "You know it's funny how Mom and Dad always turn out to be right."

"What do you mean?" his brother asked frowning.

"Mom warned me not to marry Miral," B'Elanna's father said unhappily.

Blackfur wrapped her arms around the young girl next to her, responding to the emotional distress emanating from the dark headed child. B'Elanna twisted in her arms, burying her head in her shoulder and cried silently.

"Mom loved Miral," they heard his brother remind him.

"Sure she did, but she never thought I had the constitution to live with a Klingon," there was a pause, "and now I'm living with two of them."

B'Elanna shook harder in Blackfur's arms at these final words, and the Rana could think of nothing she could say or do to take the child's pain away. She could not understand this, how could he have said those things, how could he willfully hurt his child this way. If only Humans had the bonds Rana did this would not have happened, Blackfur thought, deeply upset. He and his mate would understand one another, and he would know how he was hurting his child. Instead he seemed to only consider his own failings, and remained oblivious to the fact that his child had overheard everything.

Of course, realized Blackfur belatedly, all of this had already happened; this was a memory of B'Elanna's that she was reliving. Feeling the wetness of the child's tears soaking through her fur, Blackfur recognized that it didn't really matter; the emotional pain B'Elanna was feeling at the memory was very real and current. She pulled B'Elanna closer and offered what comfort she could to her.

* * *

The two robots entered the medical bay, ignoring the two unconscious figures for the moment. Instead they moved to one corner of the room were they proceeded to modify one of the medical beds, making it wider. That task completed, they carefully moved the Human-Klingon hybrid and the Rana to the modified bed, carefully placed them side by side, and activated the medical field over the two. The field would both slowly heal the hybrid's injured brain, provided needed nutrients to the two, and remove any waste produced by their bodies. It would also keep both women sedated while the Rana's body changed to become physically compatible with the hybrids.

* * *

Looking with satisfaction at the readings taking by his modified tricorder Tuvok tapped his communications badge briskly. "Commander Tuvok to Captain Janeway," he specified the communications channel he wanted opened.

A bare second later the Captain responded, "Yes, Tuvok?"

"Captain, I have found signs of a cloaking technology being used in this cavern."

"I'll be right down," she replied and cut the channel at the same time.

Tuvok gave a small sigh, the Captain should not put herself at risk in such an unknown situation, but he knew the chances of dissuading her were incalculably small, so he no longer expended his energy attempting to futilely do so.

Five minutes later Janeway was examining the readings he had taken. Her blue-grey eyes hardened as she stared grimly at the section of wall where he suspected there was a shielded opening. "Get Ensign Kim and anyone else you need to help you, I want that cloaking device deactivated," she commanded.

* * *

Only the fact that Blackfur had accompanied her to the Klingon monastery saved B'Elanna from feeling more horridly out of place and alone than she had before meeting the Rana on Kessik. Ever since that horrible camping trip where she had literally run into Blackfur in the woods, the two girls had been inseparable, the Rana's company easing the pain B'Elanna felt over the other children's ignoring of her.

Classes were done for the day, and she and Blackfur had gone back to the small room assigned to her. Now they were sitting side by side on the floor, their backs against the bed as B'Elanna taught the Rana to read Klingon. She had once thought that Blackfur wasn't quite as smart as she, but as time went on the Rana had seemed to catch up to her intelligence wise, and now learned things just as quickly as she did. She had already taught the Rana Federation Standard, and in returned learned the hand signs and sounds that formed the Rana language.

In another two months she would be returning home to her relief, she fit in as poorly among other Klingons as she had among Humans, feeling at ease among neither. But at least it hadn't been as unpleasant as she had thought it would be thanks to Blackfur. The Rana was fascinated with learning about her Klingon heritage, and that interest had begrudgingly sparked her own. Though she still grumbled and complained she was actually enjoying some of her classes now.

Looking over at her at her friend it suddenly occurred to B'Elanna to wonder what had happened to Blackfur's parents. Blackfur had essentially stayed at her house ever since the day they first met, and had never mentioned needing to ask her parents for permission or even needing to go home.

Jade-green eyes met hers, 'you have never wondered how I am able to be with you before,' the Rana's mental voice sounded oddly hopeful.

B'Elanna frowned, realizing that it was true, "Where are your parents?"

'Rana,' Blackfur answered simply.

She was standing looking down into a gaping hole in the earth, suddenly she felt like she was falling and she cried out, disoriented before stabbing pains in her head drove the memory away.

'B'Elanna,' Blackfur's concerned mental voice and arms wrapped around her. She rested her throbbing head against the Rana's shoulder, wondering what had just happened, and why was her head hurting so.

'It is still too soon,' B'Elanna caught Blackfur's thought through their mental link and understood that it had not been meant for her to hear. The ease with which they communicated telepathically had improved over time, and now she occasionally heard things from the Rana's mind that she knew weren't specifically directed toward her but were just Blackfur's thoughts.

"What's too soon?" she growled, irritated, and wondering if whatever it was had something to do with why her head hurt.

Blackfur's head turned and the Rana regarded her with that steady equanimity that she had grown to depend upon, no matter how angry or irritated she got she could count on Blackfur to remain calm. 'To speak of visiting my home world,' the Rana answered, 'now please teach me more Klingon?'

"Oh," B'Elanna replied surprised. Thinking about the idea she smiled, growing more excited by the prospect, "Maybe my mother will let us go when I am older."

Blackfur nodded her agreement, a human habit she had picked up from the half-Klingon, and the two turned back toward the book spread between their laps.

* * *

Blackfur opened her eyes slowly, realizing that her body felt stiff, as if she hadn't moved in awhile. Her eyes wandered over the white ceiling and she recognized the medical bay they had been brought to, she was not dreaming anymore. The Rana turned her head, realizing that she was not in the same bed she had fallen asleep in and that there was someone lying beside her.

B'Elanna. The Rana's green eyes traced over the other woman's face, noting the differences between the child that she knew from their shared dream and the adult lying beside her. The roundness of the child's face was gone, replaced by a well defined jawline and high cheekbones. The forehead ridges, which the child so disliked, to Blackfur's eyes suited B'Elanna's features perfectly. The Rana had never understood why the other Human children had teased her so meanly about them or why they punished her for the actions of others that just happened to be of the same race. Movement caught her attention and she whipped her head around looking toward it. One of the robots had entered.

'Your mate is healing well,' it signed in Rana, 'she will remain asleep for one more day. She will be completely well when she awakes.'

Blackfur drew in a sharp breath, the robot had done nothing more than confirm her own suspicions, but hearing it stated so plainly was still a surprise.

'Would you rise?' it signed with a polite inflection, 'your bed needs to be cleaned.'

Startled, the Rana rolled off the bed, standing upright with unusual ease, and looked at where she had been lying. Thick piles of dark fur covered the smooth blue padded surface. Looking down at herself, she realized her dark thick coat had almost completely fallen out leaving her almost completely bare skinned. Looking down at her body she realized she had changed. Just like Seeker had changed to be compatible with Seven, she had changed to be compatible with B'Elanna.

* * *

Where was Blackfur? B'Elanna wondered, her thoughts shading from irritation into deepening concern as she stared over the choppy water of the lake. They were supposed to have gone sailing today, but the Rana had disappeared earlier and now she could not find her friend anywhere. She could still feel the presence of the Rana through their link, and it reassured her that Blackfur was alive and well, but she could not hear the Rana's thoughts or reach her through it to find out where she was.

"B'Elanna," a strangely familiar tenor voice called from behind her, and almost simultaneously she felt her link with Blackfur come alive again. Turning around quickly she stared in surprise at the dark-skinned, broad-shouldered, tall figure that had called her name.

"Blackfur?" she questioned even though she already knew the answer, the figure before her was Blackfur. B'Elanna stared in astonishment at her friend, gone was the prominently muzzled head, and the body designed more for four-legged travel than two. Blackfur's skeletal structure had changed, become more human like, both in proportion and design. Instead of standing on four limbs she stood comfortably upright on two straight long muscular legs.

Her face had changed no less radically, though thankfully the jade-green eyes were exactly the same. B'Elanna had always liked the Rana's thick square muzzle, and staring into her friends changed face she could see remnants of the original facial structure in the strong square jawline and bold lines of her face.

Blackfur's original coloration had been primarily black fur with swirling circular patches of dark chocolate. Most of the fur was now gone, revealing smooth skin of the same dark coloration. Long black hair covered the top of her head and came down to just below her shoulders, and her pointed cat like ears poked through it, oriented unwaveringly toward B'Elanna.

"How? What?" she asked confused. Then, "You're talking!" she exclaimed with amazement. Her friend's jaw dropped slightly, and even though the Rana's facial structure had changed radically, B'Elanna was easily able to recognize it as amusement. The amusement disappeared almost immediately as Blackfur felt B'Elanna's anger and concern.

"Where have you been, what happened to you, how can you talk?" the question's came rapid fire.

Blackfur stared at her friend, taken aback at the anger and pain she could feel almost radiating from her compact body. Desperately she searched her mind for an answer, one that would not cause a reoccurrence of the pain B'Elanna suffered whenever she thought about the accident or her injury. Finally she decided to tell the bare truth and hope that B'Elanna would not ask for more specific information, "I woke up and I was like this. It happened while I slept."

B'Elanna's anger vanished almost as fast as it had risen, "Oh, I thought…" her voice trailed off as she realized she didn't really know what she had thought, only that somehow Blackfur had betrayed her by not letting her know about this before.

With the link between them it did not take Blackfur long to understand some of why the half-Klingon was angry with her. "I am sorry. I did not mean to worry you." The Rana hesitated for a moment then admitted, "It took me awhile to become accustomed to this," she indicated her changed body, "but I should have come to you sooner. I should have realized you would wonder and worry about what had happened to me."

The Rana stepped hesitantly closer, and B'Elanna realized, finally cueing in on the Rana's emotions through their link, that her friend wasn't at all certain of whether or not B'Elanna would accept the change in her appearance. "Come here, of course you're still my friend, I'm sorry I got mad, I got worried when I couldn't find you anywhere."

As her arms closed around her friend, B'Elanna berated herself for being so thoughtless, if she found the change startling and difficult to deal with how much more so must Blackfur be finding it difficult. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like to wake up and find oneself so changed, no wonder her friend had forgotten about their plans for today.

And speaking of changed…Blackfur was nude, B'Elanna realized belatedly, as the half-Klingon registered the pleasant warmth, smooth skin, and firm tone of the muscled chest her cheek was resting against. Not that the Rana had ever worn clothes before, but before she had been fur covered, now she definitely wasn't. Before Blackfur hadn't been humanoid in body form, but now she definitely was, and the body B'Elanna was pressed up against was tall, lean, well-muscled…in short a perfect match for the body type she found most attractive.

Giving Blackfur one last squeeze, B'Elanna pulled away, trying to be casual, and hoping that the Rana hadn't sensed the direction her thoughts had just taken. "I guess we need to go shopping for you now that you don't have a fur coat to keep you warm."

* * *

Certain that Blackfur was completely engrossed with the calibrations she was competing, B'Elanna allowed herself to enjoy watching the Rana. The frowning concentration on her handsome face, the way the muscles flexed underneath the dark skin in her arms and forearms. Over the past few months she had gotten used to the change in Blackfur's appearance, even though it certainly complicated their friendship, at least for her. It was becoming increasingly difficult for B'Elanna to hide from the Rana the fact that she found her very attractive.

Jade-green eyes met hers, "Why are you trying to hide that you are attracted to me?" Blackfur inquired.

"Umm," B'Elanna stuttered, highly embarrassed, "I mean you don't…you can't feel that way about anyone but your mate." Her voice trailed off, she remembered very clearly the conversation they had about how Rana chose their mates and how Blackfur's race simply did not sexually mature until their mate was chosen. She had never decided whether or not she envied or pitied Blackfur for the fact that the Rana would never feel any sexual desire until she met her future mate.

Blackfur gave her strange look, then her eyes gentled and the Rana nodded, turning back to the engine she was busy tuning.

The half-Klingon frowned, not understanding the look her friend had given her. She had the strongest feeling there was something she was not understanding, something that she really should have already understood. Mentally she began going over everything she knew about her friend's race and culture. The telepathic bonds they had as children with their parents, then the bond they formed with their mate and their children until their thirteenth year.

B'Elanna froze it finally dawned on her what she had been blind to all this time. Her wide brown eyes met Blackfur's green ones, felt the Rana's presence through their telepathic bond, the type of bond Rana formed only with their parents, children and mate.

"But we met when we were both children," she protested confused.


	7. Voyager Chapter 5

**A Perfect Mate - Voyager Chapter 5**

**By Kudara**

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.

Warning: None

Rating: Teen

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 12/21/06

Summary: Voyager searches for B'Elanna. B'Elanna finally awakes from her coma.

* * *

Kathryn Janeway looked around curiously at all the activity in the cavern as she stepped off the ladder that now extended from the opening above to the cavern floor. Her eyes went to where Tuvok was kneeling beside Harry Kim and Joe Carey and she immediately started toward the small group.

"Captain," Tuvok rose and greeted Janeway as she walked up.

"You said Harry found something?" she asked.

One dark eyebrow raised, "I said Ensign Kim detected energy signatures behind one section of the cavern wall," Tuvok corrected her.

Janeway's lips twitched in satisfaction, she was tense, worried, and had needed that moment of levity from teasing her Security Officer. "Somewhat unusual for this environment," she remarked dryly glancing around at the rough grey stone of the cavern walls.

Tuvok nodded, "Ensign Kim is currently attempting to determine if the cavern wall in that location is natural or artificially created."

A determined gleam lit the Captain's blue-grey eyes, "Could you use come help?"

"Your assistance would be appreciated, Captain," Tuvok assured her impassively, carefully hiding his satisfaction.

The Captain was an accomplished scientist, and was indeed a welcome addition to his small team, but it would not do for Janeway to realize that he had anticipated her wish to join them. He had been so certain of his ability to predict her actions that he had not requested another officer from the sciences department as he would have done otherwise. He understood Janeway's needed to feel that she was doing something to find Lt. Torres, and her assisting Ensign Kim would admirably fulfill that need. However, it still would not do for the Captain to realize he had predicted her actions so accurately, he knew his friend hated being predictable.

"But we met when we were both children," B'Elanna protested confused.

Anxiety rolled off of Blackfur so intensely B'Elanna was almost surprised she couldn't actually see it. If it hadn't been for the bond between them she would have jumped to the conclusion that Blackfur was feeling guilty because she hadn't made it clear to B'Elanna they were bonded earlier. However, because of the bond she knew Blackfur's anxiety wasn't due to guilt, it was due to concern, concern for her. But why Blackfur was concerned, and what it had to do with the Rana bonding to her, she didn't understand.

"What's wrong," she asked, now completely confused by the situation.

Blackfur finally answered, "You were injured."

A jagged hole in the earth, seeing movement just before the ground beneath her feet gave way, then falling and nothing. The room dipped and swayed nauseatingly around her for a moment as a sharp shooting pain when through her head. Then Blackfur's arms wrapped around her and she thankfully rested her head against the Rana's warm chest trying to will the pain and nausea away. "This has happened before," she murmured remembering the other two times when she had felt this way.

"Yes," Blackfur confirmed.

B'Elanna was bewildered, and beginning to feel frightened. She thought she remembered being injured but had no idea when it could have happened or where. The flashes of memory made no sense to her; she had never been anywhere that looked like that. "I don't understand, when was I injured?" she asked plaintively.

Blackfur didn't answer immediately, and the images and snippets of the Rana's thoughts B'Elanna got through their bond only confused her further. Finally Blackfur answered, "I am uncertain, I believe the robots have been keeping us sedated, perhaps four or five days."

"Sedated?" B'Elanna repeated, her voice rising as she grew more agitated. She pulled away and stared up into Blackfur's concerned eyes. "But I'm not sedated…" her voice trailed off, clear in the Rana's mind she could see the image of a medical bay with the two of them lying side by side on a wide bio bed. "But…" she looked around her room, at the workbench and engine Blackfur had been calibrating. Everything seemed real, surely her friend was wrong…and yet the memories, the memories didn't fit anywhere, she had never been off Kessik IV, and that place in her memories didn't look anything like anywhere she knew of on Kessik IV.

"Are you saying I'm dreaming?" she asked in disbelief, pulling away from Blackfur, "This isn't a dream, it's real, we're in my home." She stared at her friend feeling the beginning stirrings of anger, this wasn't amusing at all.

Grabbing Blackfur's hand she turned and pulled the Rana along with her, ignoring her friend's questions as they went down the stairs to the main floor of her house and into the kitchen where her mother was preparing dinner. "Mother," B'Elanna called urgently, causing her mother to turn around sharply and stare at them with a concerned frown, "Blackfur's been with us since I was eight hasn't she."

The Klingon looked at the two of them incredulously, "B'Elanna you brought her home with you after that camping trip with your father."

B'Elanna looked at her friend triumphantly, but Blackfur's concerned, gentle expression did not waver. Seeing it, her newly found certainty wavered, doubt began creeping in again and she remembered the two other times she had visions of falling. "And her parent's, how did we ask them if it was ok for her to stay with us?" she whispered. Her mother did not answer, and B'Elanna did not turn around to see why, staring into Blackfur's green eyes instead and seeing the truth there.

It could not have happened like this. An unknown alien from the Delta Quadrant on a Federation colony going unremarked, uninvestigated, allowed to stay with her family for years without any questions, any government officials asking how the Rana had got to Kessik IV in the first place. Impossible.

Her throat tightened unpleasantly, and dull pain blossomed in her chest as she reluctantly admitted the truth to herself. This was a dream, this had all been a dream.

Strong arms surrounded her, "If I could make it so, I would have been there for you B'Elanna. I would have been with you always, but I can only be with you in your past in your dreams as I have been." Blackfur's voice was deep, and echoed the regret B'Elanna could feel thorough their bond.

"I know," B'Elanna choked out as she wrapped her arms around the Rana's well-muscled torso and laid her face against the dark skin of her chest.

"There!" Ensign Kim exclaimed in triumph as he looked at the screen, and more specifically at the regularly oscillating energy signature displayed upon it.

"They worked," Captain Janeway commented, her tone filled with relief as she stared at the sensors pressed against the rock of the cavern wall. Only it wasn't rock, at least not natural rock, the energy signature confirmed that.

"Finally," Harry commented in a self-derisive tone.

Janeway swung about in surprise, looking at her Operation officer's face. "I don't think we did that bad," she commented in surprise, filling a little stung at the implication.

The speed with which Harry's face filled with surprise and dismay was almost comical. "Captain," he almost stuttered, "I didn't mean it like that," he looked down at the ground, "I just meant that if B'Elanna had been here..."

Janeway's face softened, "I understand Ensign. I miss, and am worried about her as well." She turned back to the rock face resolutely, she understood what Kim meant, if B'Elanna had been with them no doubt they would have found the solution hour's earlier, the woman had a definite gift when it came to engineering. However, Lt. Torres was not here, she was somewhere behind this concealing rock, and Janeway was not about to give up until she had her back.

B'Elanna groaned as she opened her eyes, blinking them rapidly and forcing sluggish muscles to raise her hand so she could wipe away the crust that had formed on her lashes. She felt the surface she was lying upon shift and heard an exhaled breath, and did not have to look to know Blackfur was lying beside her. It wasn't just the solid comforting presence of the bond between them, but the unique spicy, cinnamon scent of the Rana woman that informed her of just who was next to her.

A burst of emotion through the bond caused B'Elanna to scrub at her eyes more fiercely, wondering what was confusing Blackfur, and finally she was able to open them. They were not in the medical bay she had seen in her friend's memories.

"We have been moved," Blackfur's tenor voice clearly revealed her displeasure.

B'Elanna looked over at her, understanding that the Rana was annoyed with everything that was being done to them while they were both unconscious and therefore unable to either agree or object. Blackfur's dark maned head swung toward her, the upright ears swiveling to maintain their orientation toward her as the Rana turned to face her. Thick dark eyebrows above jade green eyes angled downward as they merged in with the thin coating of black fur that covered the Rana's nose. Bare ebony skin showed around the flared nostrils, lips and eyes, then a fine dusting of hair began again on the cheeks, thickening until it merged in at the temples with the shoulder length black mane.

Currently the dark brows were drawn together as the Rana frowned, "How are you feeling?" Blackfur asked, her gentle tone at odds with the troubled emotions B'Elanna could sense through their bond and see upon her face.

"Stiff," B'Elanna was shocked at how hoarse her voice sounded. Not that she hadn't already believed that she had been sedated and dreaming as Blackfur said, but the condition of her voice backed up that fact. Slowly she sat up and looked about the room curiously.

Forest was the first word that came to mind for the rooms color scheme, well if forests had cream colored floors, she amended the thought as she glanced down at the floor. The lower half of the room's walls were paneled in what appeared to be dark colored wood, and the upper half was painted dark green. The same color as the cover upon which the two of them rested B'Elanna noticed looking down at the fabric underneath her.

Almost immediately, her gaze was drawn from the dark fabric to where her companion's thigh approximately six inches from her own. Ebony skin and nothing else but a light dusting of black hair covered well-defined quadriceps. A quick sideways glance confirmed that the rest of her friend was just as bare. Heat curled from up from her thighs and down from her stomach, meeting at her groin. Blackfur's jade-green eyes met hers, the Rana sensing her arousal through their bond.

B'Elanna watched as the green eyes darkened and felt Blackfur's matching interest. Any remaining doubts that her friend was bonded to her vanished, she knew full well that Rana responded sexually only to their mates. The only remaining question in her mind was what was her reaction going to be? Would she accept the bond and become Blackfur's mate, or deny it and doom her friend to a lifetime of aloneness. Her friend, the word caught in mind, tangled between her dream memories and the reality of this place. The conflict between what her memories told her, and what reason, this place, and Blackfur told her, was bewildering and confusing.

'I'm not ready for this', B'Elanna thought, feeling overwhelmed by all the revelations of the past hour. It was too much all at once, she lifted a hand to her temple; her head was suddenly pounding.

The sound of the door opening distracted her momentarily from the pain in her head, and she watched warily as what was obviously one of the robots who had brought them here entered the room and approached the bed upon which she and Blackfur were still sitting.

An agitated swirl of concern and anger burst through B'Elanna's bond with Blackfur, 'She is not fully healed,' the Rana signed her gestures abrupt and sharp.

The robot remained motionless for a moment then made a brief acknowledging gesture, the machine then moved over to B'Elanna and began scanning her with what appeared to be a medical tricorder.

B'Elanna watched the progress of the scan with impatience, eager to learn what was causing her memory loss and hopefully what injury had occurred initially as a result of her fall. When the robot changed some settings on the tricorder and began scanning once again without saying anything, she began to feel worried and agitated. B'Elanna's temper was just about to snap at the robot's continuing silence when the machine finally completed the second scan and signed in Rana, 'How are you feeling?'

Her anger chilled at the reminder of just why she was here in the first place, 'Not well,' she signed, 'my head still hurts and I cannot remember...,' B'Elanna paused trying to find the correct signs to use. The Rana language was a rich one, containing many words to describe sights, sounds and smells, but it was not the language of a technologically advanced people, there were simply no signs with which to communicate her continuing memory loss. "Don't you have a universal translator?" she finally blurted out in frustration.

The robot replied succinctly, "Yes," in clear Federation Standard.

Taking in a quick breath, B'Elanna began describing what she had remembered, her continuing inability to remember anything past her seventeenth birthday, and the sharp pains in her head that occurred when she had memory flashes of her accident. Occasionally Blackfur added in her own comments, describing what she remembered of the times the accident had been brought up, and how B'Elanna had reacted.

After they both finished the robot stood motionless for a few seconds, and this time it occurred to B'Elanna to wonder if perhaps the pause was due to it communicating with a central computer core. When the robot next acted it did not speak as B'Elanna had expected, but instead moved to a section of the wall which turned opaque revealing a data screen.

"These were your injuries when we began treating you," a three dimensional image of a brain appeared, rotating slowly. "From the extent and nature of them, we estimated that five to six severe impacts to the exterior of the skull occurred resulting in bruising to the brain here and here, and here and here." The robot extended a limb and pointed to two separate areas on either side of the rotating brain image, which paused helpfully as the robot,'s limb touched the screen. The first two areas were at the front and back of the brain in the frontal and occipital lobes; the second two areas were on either side of the brain in both the right and left temporal lobes. "The repeated impacts also caused minute shearing throughout the brain tissue. Our first action was to stop the hemorrhaging within your brain tissue then we removed the excess blood to prevent pressure damage to the brain tissues."

The robot paused for a moment, "We believed that we had healed all of your injuries, but your inability to fully access your memory engrams indicates that there is still damage to your temporal lobes. The most probable reason for your symptoms is that the shearing injury to the tissues in your temporal lobes disrupted your memory pathways, rendering you unable to retrieve those particular memory engrams even though they are still present."

The robot turned away from the data screen, "There is no information about your species in Researcher Katara's database; we do not have enough knowledge of your physiology to determine what specific damage remains that is preventing you from regaining your memories. Without a historical brain memory engram scan we cannot determine which memory pathways have been disrupted."

The robot fell silent once again, but this time B'Elanna had the clear sense that it was closely examining her, "We have been monitoring the activities of the other members of your starship. The probability that they possess the medical technology to determine what damage remains to you, and to repair it, is extremely high. Non-Rana are not permitted entry to this facility, you will be transported to another location to make contact with them."

The robot began moving toward the door, making it obvious that the discussion was over as far as it was concerned and it was time for her to leave. "Wait a moment," B'Elanna protested, the robot stopped, the head swiveled toward her. Now that she had its attention she wasn't certain what to say, only the thought of meeting several people who she did not remember but knew her was more than slightly intimidating.

Blackfur, feeling her rising anxiety through their bond rumbled, "Could you transport us to where Seeker and Seven, members of my rann live. Seven is also a member of B'Elanna's clan, and will be able to contact them."

B'Elanna met Blackfur's green eyes with relief, grateful that her friend had found a way to spare her the ordeal of having to meet several strangers. Blackfur and the robot began discussing exactly where Seven and Seeker's house was located and where to transport them. As B'Elanna listened to them an alarming fact sunk in, one that perhaps should have occurred to her earlier but hadn't among all the other jarring facts, "We are in the Delta Quadrant?"

Her outburst caused both of them to fall silent and stare at her. Embarrassed she babbled, "Of course we are how else could I have fallen..." she stopped abruptly as the words triggered her memory. She was making her way up a steep slope covered in loose shale thinking about the study Seven had done of her and Tom's relationship. An image of a blonde haired man flashed in her mind, smiling and merry-eyed, confused feelings of affection, weariness and disappointment accompanied the image. The memory faded and she realized that she was kneeling on the forest-green carpeted floor, the heels of both hands pressed hard to her forehead in a vain effort to still its pounding. Blackfur was crouched beside her with a supporting arm around her back, and the robot was scanning her once again.

"From this information I can correct the neural pathways connected to the memory you just accessed, and relieve the pain you are experiencing from accessing that specific memory," the robot announced after it finished. As soon as the robot finished speaking, it moved rapidly over to the door where it paused, "If you will follow me to the medical area." The pounding in her head was easing, but B'Elanna was still grateful for Blackfur's steady arm and strength as the Rana helped her down the hallway after the robot.

Twenty minutes later, B'Elanna was finally able to remember the immediate events leading up to her fall, and the fall itself. The blond haired man was Tom Paris, her sometimes lover when she wasn't angry with him for obsessing over some new holoprogram he was developing, or for playing in one and completely forgetting her. The study that she remembered was one Seven had done of their relationship. Seven had concluded that she and Tom were the best choices for each other among Voyager's limited crew of 144.

That was why she had been angry with Seven, angry that the woman had pointed it out so bluntly, and that was why she had been sad, sad that Seven had seen the truth so clearly. She and Tom were hardly the ideal couple, back in the Alpha Quadrant they likely would have never even dated, but here in the Delta Quadrant there had not been many choices. At least there hadn't been until now, B'Elanna thought, glancing over at Blackfur.

She understood that in reality she and the Rana had only been together for a few days, but her mind, her memories still insisted that they had known each other for years. In all that time Blackfur had been her closest friend, her trusted confidant, the one person who knew and understood her better than anyone else. Someone, she though as she met Blackfur's eyes, who knew all her foibles and faults, her temper and habit of brooding and cared for her despite them.


End file.
